Monday August 8, 2011
by CHOONG MEK ZHIN
LANDSLIDES, the latest one being the Hulu Langat incident in May that claimed 16 lives, continue to be a major issue in Selangor despite the introduction of the state Highland and Hillslope Planning and Development Guide-lines early last year that failed to address safety concerns.
According to geotechnical engineer Dr Gue See-Sew, the guidelines should have incorporated steps on preventing future landslides.
Our objective should be to protect people, yet nothing in the guidelines talks about safety. - DR GUE SEE-SEW “There are many causes of slope failure and nothing in the guidelines addresses this,” he said.
“New developments should be made to follow a set of procedures to prevent such incidents from happening,” the former Institution of Engineers Malaysia president said.
He said there were many investigations done when a slope failed but nobody consolidated these reports along with the national slope masterplan to improve development practices and safety, something that should have been included in the guidelines.
“Our objective should be to protect people, yet nothing in the guideline talks about safety.
“All it does is complicate the planning process,” Gue said, adding that both the state and federal guidelines were more or less the same.
He pointed out that classifying slopes — the first step in applying for development planning approval — was already complicated and created a grey area.
“Slope classification should not be so subjective. We do not want 10 people using the guidelines to come up with 10 different conclusions,” he said, adding that it should be simple and suggested that only slope gradient be used, without adding parameters.
For instance, under the guidelines, slopes more than or equivalent to 15° to less than 25° were typically considered Class II slopes but could be classified as Class III (≥25° to <35°) if there were signs of moderate to bad erosion and slope instability.
“How do we differentiate small, moderate or serious erosion problems?
“When in doubt, do not approve and there is no development. But is (no development) what we want?” Gue said, adding that he had raised this question when the guidelines were being drafted.
He also felt that differentiation should be made towards unengineered and engineered slopes.
“Both situations require the same precautions such as the buffer zone.
“When a slope is unstable and too costly to strengthen, it has the potential to fail and needs the buffer but why should an engineered slope require the same?” he asked.
Gue said the guidelines were confusing and the planning process did not involve engineers thus it should be simple and transparent on when a submission could be approved or not.
“The details and parameters such as consideration for rainfall, water table, geometry, soil property and such can come later as this is when we talk of engineering a slope,” he said.
Gue expressed disappointment with the authorities, as the main stakeholders, who had plans and started good initiatives but without clear results.
“We do not have enough champions for this cause. Strong political will and follow-ups are important,” he said, adding that collectively, as a state or country, resources can be found to mitigate this issue.
He said solutions must be found to the landslide problems that kept recurring.
“In Hulu Langat, there is a lot of unchecked slope-cutting going on.
“In some parts, the slope-cutting has created almost vertical unengineered slopes along the main road. How can the authorities say they do not have the power to overcome this?” he asked.
He said according to the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 Section 70, it is stated that “No person shall erect any building without the written permission of the local authority”.
“To my understanding, no type of land is exempted from this law, including agricultural land,” Gue said, adding that known high-risk areas should be investigated and notices issued or immediate measures taken to strengthen it.
“We could adapt and adopt a number of practises from Hong Kong’s successful slope management model.
“They look into both planning control for new developments as well as retrofitting existing slopes at risk,” he explained.
“For the former, they look into planning approval that addresses density, method of applying and type of slopes applicable for planning application. Everything is clear cut,” he said.
As for existing hillslope development, the areas are checked and if found that some mitigation steps need to be carried out, it is done quickly.
“If the land is privately owned, the owner is responsible for it.
“If they do not have the financial means to do it, the government does it but imposes a condition on the owner that they cannot sell their property until the cost of strengthening the slope is paid back,” Gue said.
It has been reported, from as early as 1999 after the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide that cut off access to thousands, efforts have been made to emulate Hong Kong’s hillslope management.
Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman, 46, from Bukit Antara-bangsa said it was worrying if the government machinery of the day did not move to protect the public.
“The state government can do more to push the machinery, that is the local authorities, to monitor and act quickly when it comes to mitigating slope problems,” he said.
“They are not fully using their ‘arm’ and this is management failure on their part.”
