POOR slope management across the country could be attributed to the Government’s neo-liberal policies of privatising of such critical work to third party concessionaire.
“It is also caused by the Government’s austerity measures. Between 2007 and 2012, the routine preventative and maintenance was conducted properly by Public Works Department (JKR).
“However, this was stopped since 2013 onwards due to deep budget cuts imposed by then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak,” Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member Sharan Raj told FocusM.
Yesterday, the Kinta district JKR announced that the road stretch along Jalan Simpang Pulai-Blue Valley heading towards Cameron Highlands was closed to all vehicles following a landslide a day earlier.
“Motorists can use the Federal Route 59 Jalan Tapah-Cameron Highlands as an alternative route. Any inconvenience caused is much regretted,” Bernama reported the department as saying.
Elaborating on the matter, Sharan said that in February 2004, the Cabinet approved the establishment of Cawangan Kejuruteraan Cerun (CKC) under the purview of JKR.
It was done in response to the rock fall landslide at KM21.8 (Bukit Lanjan) on the North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) on Nov 26, 2003.
CKC was tasked to manage, control and supervise slopes to avoid future tragedies. According to the Slope Management Guidelines (Part 3) dated August 2006, CKC must conduct routine slope maintenance at least once a year for Category 1 and 2 slopes, and twice a year for Category 3 slopes.
With that, Sharan added, CKC had identified 946 high-risk slopes in Peninsula Malaysia, with 20% of it concentrated in three districts; Cameron Highlands, Kinta and Gombak.
“CKC did a great job as their early warning system and preventative works system was quite comprehensive and effective. To be honest, CKC prevented a lot of landslides from happening between 2008 and 2013 due their diligence.
“However, all that changed after Najib announced austerity measures from 2013 onwards. The budget allocation for slope management was too steep that routine preventative maintenance work was stopped altogether,” he claimed.
Incapable concessionaire?
Then, on Nov 1, 2017, the Finance Ministry (MOF) awarded slope maintenance and repair concession worth RM828.98 mil to a company called Pintas Utama Sdn Bhd – for a period of 36 months – through direct negotiation.
However, the Auditor-General’s Report Series 3 highlighted several issues plaguing the company, referring to it by its company registration number 301524-V.
According to the report, out of the 946 high-risk slopes identified by CKC, the company only managed to work on 5.9% of them in 2018, or 56 slopes.
“And the auditor-general’s report highlighted that the contractor does not have the sufficient capability to conduct slope prevention works as planned by CKC,” Sharan noted.
The PSM leader remarked: “According to Pelan Induk Cerun Negara (PICN 2009-2023) over-development and construction near hill slope increases risk of landslide.
“Therefore, I urge Putrajaya to also curtail property development by developers near hill slopes.” – Sept 20, 2021
