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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Engineering Consultant gets show-cause letter for ‘overlooking hilltop stream", the main cause for landslide



Consultant gets show-cause letter for ‘overlooking hilltop stream’


GEORGE TOWN: The consultant of the Bukit Kukus Paired Road project has been slapped with a show-cause letter for allegedly overlooking a stream on top of the hill before commencing work.

Penang Island City Council (MBPP) mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang said the stream had been blocked, and this could be the main cause for the landslide on Friday.

“We found the stream on top of the hill on Saturday morning.

“You don’t need an expert to tell you that a diversion was needed in this situation before starting work on the hill.

"For me, this (the blocked stream) could be the main cause for the landslide,” he said at the site in Paya Terubong yesterday

The contractor has since diverted the flow of water

Yew also said stern action would be taken if professional negligence was found to be the cause once the investigation was completed

“This is a straightforward engineering project that needs to comply with standard operating procedure.

“We want to know why the need to divert the water was overlooked. I believe the tragedy could have been prevented,” he added.

Asked about the project, Yew said it would go on.

“I hope the project will be completed on time and in proper order by 2020.”

The RM530mil alternative road linking Lebuhraya Thean Teik in Bandar Baru Air Itam to Lebuh Bukit Jambul began in January 2016.

So far, nine bodies have been recovered from the scene. They included Indonesian worker Subaeri, 34, found at about 12.45pm yesterday and Bangladeshi Muhammad Uzzal, 33, at 5pm.

Muhammad Uzzal is said to be without a valid working permit.

Firemen found his body pinned under a container and took about 40 minutes to extract it before sending it to the Penang General Hospital for a post-mortem. The bodies of Bangladeshi workers Mithu Hossain, 30, Mustak Hossain, 25, and Md Jalil, 34, were pulled out of the rubble on Sunday.

Hill stream overflowed - Heavy rain, water on slope cause of Bukit Kukus landslide

Rescue operations at Jalan Bukit Kukus Paya Terubong

GEORGE TOWN: Water flow from a stream on the hilly area at Jalan Bukit Kukus, Paya Terubong has been identified as among the causes of the landslide there last Friday, according to the Mineral and Geoscience Department.

The department’s director for Perlis, Kedah and Penang, Azhari Ahmad, said the finding was made based on its inspection and monitoring since yesterday.

“Our team, which arrived at the location yesterday morning, conducted an observation and identified several factors that caused the landslide, resulting in all containers on the hill slope to slide down with the earth.

“The main factor that caused the land slide is the water flow from a stream near the slope, and heavy rain since Friday morning caused the water to overflow,” he said.

The department had taken immediate measure by diverting the flow of water from the stream elsewhere to avoid worsening the situation, especially during the search and rescue (SAR) operation, he said.

Azhari said further inspection conducted at 7.30am yesterday found the water flow on the slope was less, but the department will continue to monitor the situation with the help of equipment from the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) to ensure the safety of SAR personnel.

Based on observation and inspection at the scene, the department found the location of the landslide to be at the concave slope which easily collected water.

“But, we have not ruled out the possibility of follow-up landslides in the area due to the soil structure and there is still water flowing that can cause landslide.

“We have also advised the rescue team to stop operation immediately if it rains as it could cause another landslide.”

He said the department was assisting the rescue team in the SAR operation and did not rule out the possibility of it conducting further investigation to determine the actual cause of the landslide.

“We hope for fine weather and no rain so that the SAR operation can continue until all victims are found,” he said.

The tragedy occurred following heavy rain in the state since Thursday afternoon until noon the following day, causing the landslide at the container and kongsi area at the Bukit Kukus paired road construction site.

Two bodies were recovered on Friday, that of Indonesian national Samsul Asman, 19, and Bangadesh worker Attrul, 35, while the bodies of Myanmar woman Khin Aye Khaing, 33, and Indonesian Bahtiar, 36, were recovered yesterday at 1.30am and 11.55 am,  respectively. – Bernama


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Monday, October 22, 2018

Soil erosion mitigation plans ignored, waters from stream identified as main cause !

A drone picture of the collapsed beams along Jalan Tun Sardon leading to Balik Pulau on the left while Jalan Paya Terubong on the right leads to Relau.— CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
(Above) A closer view of the collapsed beams. (Right) The affected section of the project overlooking Jalan Paya Terubong heading to Relau in the background.
 
Tragic Situation: (Top) A landslide at the construction site in Jalan Bukit Kukus, Paya Terubong, caused four containers to be covered with mud - Bernama,  Closed call:(Right below) Survivors of the landslide surveying the scene



 Checks show projects did not follow SOP 


GEORGE TOWN: As the search and rescue operation for seven buried foreign workers at a construction site in Paya Terubong is going on, shocking information has surfaced that not a single construction site in Penang is following the soil erosion mitigation plan stipulated in their project approvals.

The Star has learnt that the state government has launched Ops Lumpur shortly after the general election, requiring enforcement officers from the local councils to inspect and report on every construction site in all five districts in the state.

A consultant civil engineer familiar with Ops Lumpur claimed that every single construction project did not observe the soil erosion mitigation plan.

He said Ops Lumpur was overseen directly by state exco members and enforcement officers were required to visit the sites.

"Their reports shocked the state exco members. Every contractor failed to do soil erosion measures in every site.

“Now you know why streams near construction site are always yellow when it rains,” he said.

The consultant engineer said the state went after developers who claimed they were not aware and blamed the contractors.

“Civil engineers are often disgusted when they do site visits because it is common for us to see that the soil erosion mitigation plans are never followed,” he said.

The consultant said it was easy to inspect construction sites and check on the progress and questioned whether state government agencies regularly conducted scheduled and surprise visits.

“How often do they conduct spot checks? How strictly do they conduct enforcement rounds on construction sites? If we keep contractors on their toes all the time, we might not have so many landslides,” he said, referring to the latest landslide in Bukit Kukus, the site of a hillside highway from Paya Terubong to Bukit Jambul is being built.

A teh tarik-coloured stream was observed flowing between Jalan Paya Terubong and the barred entrance to the highway construction site yesterday.

It has been raining almost every day in Penang this week.

In yesterday’s incident, rescue team found one survivor and two dead bodies. At press time, seven are still missing.

The Fire and Rescue Department received a distress call about the landslide at 1.56pm.

An Indonesian worker who only wished to be known as Endo, 36, said three of his relatives from Sulawesi were trapped in the landslide and he was working in another nearby construction site.

“It rained all night (Thursday). The rain stopped at 9am (yesterday) and resumed at 1pm. At my site, all of us stayed in our quarters and didn’t work because of the rain.

“I got a call from others that my relatives are missing. So, now I’ll just wait,” he said.

Last Thursday, 14 concrete beams measuring 25m long each, crashed down from an elevated section of the highway.

No injuries were reported and a stop-work order was issued pending investigations of the collapse.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who visited the site with several state exco members, said he reminded rescue workers to be wary while searching for the missing victims because the rain could have rendered the slopes unstable.

“All work has stopped here and the contractor was about to send in its report on the collapse of the concrete beams on Oct 11,” he said, adding that the place where the beams collapsed was far from the landslide. - The Star by arnold lohlo tern chern

Water from stream identified as main cause of landslide


GEORGE TOWN: Water flow from a stream on the hilly area in Jalan Bukit Kukus, Paya Terubong, near here has been identified as among the cause of the landslide.

Azhari Ahmad, who is Mineral and Geoscience Department (JMG) director for Perlis, Kedah and Penang, said the finding was made based on its inspection and monitoring since Saturday.

“The JMG team identified several factors that caused the landslide, resulting in all containers on the hill slope to slide down with the earth.

“The main factor that caused the landslide is the water flow from a stream near the slope and heavy rain since Friday morning caused the water to overflow,” he told reporters yesterday.

Azhari said the department had taken immediate measure by diverting the flow of water from the stream elsewhere to avoid worsening the situation, especially during the search and rescue (SAR) operation.

He said further inspection conducted at 7.30am yesterday found the water flow on the slope was lesser but the department would continue to monitor the situa­tion with equipment from the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team to ensure the safety of SAR personnel.

He said based on observation and inspection at the scene, the department found the location of the landslide to be at the concave slope which easily collected water.

“But we do not rule out the possibility of a follow-up landslide in the area due to the soil structure and there is still water flowing that can cause landslide.

“We have also advised the rescue team to stop operation immediately if it rains as it could cause another landslide,” he said.

Azhari said the department was assisting the rescue team in the SAR operation and did not rule out the possibility of it conducting further investigation to determine the ac­­tual cause of the landslide.

“We hope for fine weather and no rain so that the SAR operation can be continued until all the victims are found,” he said.

The landslide occurred at about 1.30pm last Friday.

The tragedy occurred following heavy rain in the state from Thurs­day afternoon until noon the following day, causing the landslide at the container and kongsi area at the Bukit Kukus paired road construction site.

Source: Bernama, Reports by LO TERN CHERN, N.TRISHA and R.SEKARAN



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UMNO President Zahid hit with 45 charges of CBT, money laundering and graft

https://youtu.be/C7HK0qSOmdg


KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has claimed trial to 45 charges of money-laundering involving RM72mil and criminal breach of trust and accepting bribes involving RM42mil.

This is the first time a serving Umno president has been hauled to court to face criminal charges.

For charges one to 10, Dr Ahmad Zahid, who was trustee of Yayasan Akalbudi, was accused of committing CBT involving RM20,833,132.99 belonging to the foundation.

The former deputy prime minister and home minister allegedly committed the offences at Affin Bank Bhd at Jalan Bunus here between Jan 13, 2014 and Jan 11, 2016.

The charges under Section 409 of the Penal Code provides for imprisonment between two and 20 years, whipping and fine, upon conviction.

For charges 11 to 18, Dr Ahmad Zahid was accused of receiving RM21,250,000 in gratification in his capacity as home minister.

The bribes were allegedly from Syarikat Mastoro Kenny IT Consul­tant & Services as an inducement for the accused to assist the company obtain MyEG projects which is under the purview of the Home Ministry; Syarikat Data Sonic Group Bhd director Chew Ben Ben, with the company appointed to insert passport chips for five years or 12.5 million chips in Malaysian passports; and from Syarikat Profound Radiance Sdn Bhd director Azlan Shah Jaffril, with the company appointed as service provider of a one-stop visa centre for Pakistan and Nepal.

The offences were allegedly committed at Malayan Banking Bhd in Bangsar between Dec 7, 2016 and March 15 this year.

The charges under Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 carry a jail term of up to 20 years and fine of not less than five times the sum of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

For the remaining 27 charges, Dr Ahmad Zahid was accused of money laundering involving RM72mil, said to be proceeds from unlawful activities by way of:

> Giving directions to deposit between RM600,000 and RM9.35mil into two bank accounts;

> Giving instructions to purchase two bungalow lots worth RM5.9mil in Kajang; and

> Instructing one Omar Ali Abdullah to convert RM6.8mil into 30 pieces of cheques for the purpose of purchasing fixed deposits in Maybank.

The offences were allegedly committed at Maybank in Bangsar and Marhaba Enterprise Sdn Bhd in Jalan Bukit Bintang between March 29, 2016 and April 11, 2018.

The charges under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 carry a jail term of up to 15 years and fine of not less than five times the sum involved or RM5mil, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

Dr Ahmad Zahid, 65, who wore an orange batik shirt, appeared calm as the charges were being read out for about an hour.

At one point, he even turned around and smiled at the public gallery.

Counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik stood by him outside the dock as the court interpreter read the charges.

Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who was appointed to lead the prosecution by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), suggested that bail be set at RM2mil.

Hisyam asked that bail be paid in two instalments, to which Sri Ram argued: “The rule is that the accused must post bail on the same day, otherwise he may have been kept in custody. There must be no exception.”

Hisyam said there were judicial precedence in the cases involving Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor where the same court allowed bail to be posted in instalments, and added that there was no risk of his client escaping.

Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi allowed bail at RM2mil in one surety, to be paid in two instalments.

“There is no question of this court according special treatment to anyone,” she remarked, ordering RM1mil to be posted yesterday and the balance to be settled by or on Oct 26.

A family friend of the accused posted the first bail instalment. Mention was fixed for Dec 14
 - The Star by Nurbaiti Hamdan

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