GEMPAR !!! HEBAT DAPigs MEMBAZIR !!!

Sekali lagi kerajaan Penang pimpinan Lim Guan Eng cuba membazirkan duit rakyat Penang selepas kegagalan tempat letak kereta bertingkat di Penang Hill.

Petikan dari The Star Online:

Nothing seems right for car park

BELOW is a summary of findings on the Penang Hill multi-storey car park by the Penang State Inquiry Board. 

The weaknesses

> At the design stage, the approved plan by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) did not comply with council guidelines requirements, namely the ramps’ gradient exceeded the requirement, the ramps turning radius was insufficient and there were traffic circulation conflicts. The project architect was responsible for these weaknesses.

> The tender drawing and plan were issued without approval

> At the construction stage, physical commencement of work proceeded without the plan being approved, the documentation was not in order, the clerk-of-work was inexperienced, the dimension and design errors were identified but not rectified and the latest drawing was not transmitted to site for implementation.

Solution options

> To demolish, redesign, reconstruct the entire building; to localise demolition, redesign and reconstruct ramps only or to localise demolition on ramps only and replace with vehicular lifts.

> Carry out Actual Load Test for one to two months and install settlement markers to instil public confidence in the structure’s stability.

Recommendations

> Demolish, redesign and reconstruct the entire building to increase the number of parking lots from the existing 112 to more than 300 lots with split-level ramps.

> The new building can either be 18m (six floors with an estimated construction cost of RM7,500,000) or 24m (eight floors with an estimated construction cost of RM10,000,000) high.

> The demolition, redesign and reconstruction should take about 17 months to complete.

The Penang State Inquiry Board, comprising Penang chairman of the Malaysian Architects Association Lawrence Lim and Institute of Engineers Malaysia (northern branch) former chairman Lim Kok Khong, was headed by Prof Omar Munir from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar). A total of 10 stakeholders were interviewed by the board since it was formed on Sept 29 to investigate the controversial car park. The post of chairman of the board appeared to be as ‘controversial’ as the issue it was investigating.

Prof Omar was the third chairman to hold the post in just three weeks. Prof Omar, a surveyor, took over the chairmanship on Oct 12, less than a month after Universiti Teknologi Petronas Assoc Prof Dr Arazi Idrus’s resignation on Oct 6, apparently due to the ‘heavy workload’ involved. Before Dr Arazi, former state Public Works Department (PWD) director Shahawai Awang had stepped down as chairman following his appointment on Sept 22, apparently to avoid a conflict of interest.

The terms of reference for the board were to identify the weaknesses in the implementation of the project and determine those responsible or the weaknesses, propose actions to be taken, and provide an independent view-point for solutions to rectify the problems.

Selepas kegagalan tersebut Ketua Menterinya cuba hendak membina terowong terusan laut yang berharga 8 billion ringgit.

Petikan dari The Star Online:

KUALA LUMPUR: The Penang government will pay developers with prime land around the tourist belt area of Gurney Drive to construct three by-pass highways and a sea tunnel linking the island to the mainland.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the RM8bil project would be the state's biggest infrastructure exercise and is meant to resolve the island's severe traffic congestion problem.

The proposed traffic-alleviation projects are a 6.5km sea tunnel connecting Gurney Drive on the island to northern side of Butterworth, a 4.2km road from Gurney Drive to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu expressway by-passing the city centre, a 4.6km road linking Bandar Baru Air Itam to the same expressway and a 12km dual-carriage road from Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang to pair with the existing coastal road.

“We estimate that the projects will cost RM5bil to RM8bil depending on the bids from prospective contractors,” he told a press briefing here yesterday.

He said the “competitive land swap” payment will be a win-win situation for both the state government and the developers.

“The state government does not have to pay money and the developer gets prime land that will triple in value after the projects take place,” Guan Eng said.

He added that developers could also propose to implement toll payments to recover costs.

A pre-qualification exercise will be issued Tuesday on the Penang government website for the projects and a briefing will be held in Penang on Nov 29 for interested bidders.

Lim explained that the projects would undergo a lengthy feasibility study and construction is only expected to commence in 2015.

“We target the completion to be in 2020, although it can be completed earlier,” said Lim.

Psssttttt.... Projek parking yang mudah pun banyak kegagalan apatah lagi projek bernilai billoion ringgit. Renung-renungkan dan selamat beramal...