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We urge the Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to announce the Halcrow report on the cracks of the Kepong flyover (MRR2 viaduct), so that we shall know whether the disaster has been to design failure or mistakes in the detailing Media Statement by Dr Tan Seng Giaw (Kepong, Wednesday): Yesterday, Lim Kit Siang and I asked the Works Minister in Parliament about the report of the Kepong viaduct fiasco in which 31 of the 33 crossbeams cracked. Datuk Seri Samy said the Halcrow report would be presented to his ministry today and he would announce it. But, we have yet to see the report. It is most disappointing. The Minister told us that 15 of the crossbeams had been repaired and that there would be closure of the viaduct for a further three months (Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and specialists’ investigations had taken one month). He has closed the structure since 7 August, 2004.
The package 11 of the Middle Ring Road 2 cost RM238.2 million, opening for traffic over two years ago to disperse the heavy traffic. Then, 31 crossbeams cracked.
The design engineer Mounsell, Sharma and Zakaria engaged a Monash professor to investigate the cracks. The consultant insisted that the design was good and it only needed a minor repair to get things right. There was no need to close the viaduct. On the other hand, the contractor BimiHiway consortium invited a German consultant Kohler and Seitz to study the fiasco. The latter believed that the viaduct was unsafe and that it was a design flaw.
Samy ‘s ministry has called a third consultant, the British firm Halcrow, that has completed the report and recommendations to correct the flaws. Since the report is only out today, how is it that the Public Works Department has been able to repair 15 crossbeams out of 31? What type of works has been done since 7 August, 2004?
* Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong |