GEORGE TOWN, Oct 23 — The Penang state government should set up a civil and geotechnical engineering commission to oversee and audit hillslope protection and compliance, an assemblyman, Jason Ong Khan Lee, said.
The Kebun Bunga assemblyman said the Bukit Kukus landslide showed that the state severely lacks monitoring and enforcement when it comes to development on hilly terrain.
“It is time to create this commission and it should be led by a building surveyor who is empowered to issue stop work orders and is answerable to the Penang state assembly and parliament,” he said in a statement today.
The PKR leader said the social impact assessment and environmental impact assessments for projects on hilly terrain should also be made in accordance with recommendations made by the commission.
“The commission is to be equipped with a Geographical Information System (GIS) and will be responsible for landslide and flood hazard mapping on all hilly land and hillslopes,” he suggested.
He said with hazard mapping, the existing warning system can be synchronised as an added preventive measure and surveillance for potential natural disasters.
“While we do also have several departments such as the Geotechnical Department in MBPP, the Mineral and Geoscience Department under the Ministry of Water Land and Natural Resources to oversee matters pertaining to hillslope developments, we severely lack monitoring and enforcement,” he said.
He pointed out that these government policies have been in place for a long time but the state has been too complacent.
“Lives were lost, not once but twice already, the first time at Granito in Tanjung Bungah should have been a wake-up call for us to act upon our shortcomings,” he said.
He said the state authorities needed to step up enforcement of worksite safety and compliance.
“There is no point to claim to know the problem after it has happened when we could have known about it if those who were supposed to monitor the progress and compliance were on their toes and serious about their jobs,” he said.
H said if the water flow of a stream at the site was blocked, as suggested by the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang yesterday, it should have been discovered during routine inspection.
“When was the last inspection carried out?” he asked.
He also called on the state government to consider an “ex gratia” payment for the families of those involved in the landslide.
The Bukit Kukus landslide, which occurred last Friday, brought down 12 containers stacked on the slopes and buried at least 10 workers underneath.
Search operations have recovered the bodies of nine workers and operations are still underway for another missing worker.
Last year, on October 21, a landslide at a housing project in Tanjung Bungah killed 11 construction workers at the site.
A commission of enquiry was held for the incident, but the results of the enquiry is yet to be announced.
