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Samy Vellu says the Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2) is safe. The foreign consultant says it is unsafe. What went wrong and why are Malaysians being allowed to continue using what may be a death trap? Do we need the elevated highway to collapse at a loss of many lives before we do something? Or does it mean ‘doing something’ would result in many of Samy’s friends, such as Maunsell Sharma & Zakaria Sdn Bhd, getting into trouble (which will then disqualify them from the Second Penang Bridge project) and that is why the government is doing nothing?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Maunsell, Sharma & Zakaria sues Utusan

18 March 2006

Civil Engineering Design Consultant, Maunsell Sharma & Zakaria, the consulting firm for the design of Ampang-KL Elevated Highway (KLT) has sued Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd for RM50mil for libel.

Maunsell Sharma & Zakaria Sdn Bhd, filed the suit at the Civil Division High Court registry at Wisma Denmark in Jalan Ampang here yesterday through their lawyer D.P. Vijandran.

In the suit, the firm claimed that the Utusan Malaysia daily had published defamatory words in two page-one articles on Feb 9 and 10.

It said the articles alleged that there were many cracks in the highway and that these were caused by flaws in the engineering design of the highway.

Apart from damages, the company is seeking an injunction, an apology, interest and costs.

Maunsell Sharma & Zakaria is also the design consultant for Middle-ring Road Two (MRR2).

Yesterday, Works Minister Samy Vellu admitted in Parliament that defective design was one of the reasons for the cracks in the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2).

"The steel placement did not follow specifications," Samy said in reply to a question from Speaker Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib.

Ramli had interrupted Samy Vellu when the minister was giving a technical explanation for the cracks on the MRR2 highway in reply to questions from Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera) and other MPs.

Samy Vellu said his ministry monitored bridges and flyovers but only the MRR2 was found to have "serious defects".

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Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed said that two of the six lanes will be closed for the next three weeks until its team of consultants have studied the damage.

He said that three of the 18 carbon fibre panels on Pillar 28 had peeled off at about 9am on Sunday, causing some clumps of concrete to fall.

The structure was safe, he however claimed.

City Deputy Traffic Chief DSP Ng Fook Long said that police closed that section of the MRR2 at 10.30am following a directive from the Public Works Department (JKR) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

The closure caused massive jams in many parts of the city.

The MRR2 is no stranger to this kind of controversy. In 2004, residents noticed cracks in 31 of the 33 pillars supporting the flyover.

Then the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu at first maintained that the cracks were not due to any design flaw.

However, a consultants' study later found that design deficiencies and improper anchoring at the crossbeams were responsible for the cracks.

The Government spent RM70mil to undo the damage.

The elevated highway was also closed in 2006 for further repairs. – The Star, 3 August 2008

READ MORE HERE: Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Federal_Route_28)

Comments (43)

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written by othman hitam, September 10, 2009 00:12:19

Hello MACC....you ada mana????

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written by TruthSayer, September 10, 2009 00:17:36

You know what will be poetic justice?

The flyover collapses as Samy Vellu and the BN and their cronies are crossing it

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written by Sutha, September 10, 2009 00:20:47

Of course, to the Beast Sami Velu Parapundeh, it can only see illegal money and nothing more but such money-making opportunities. Why expect money eyes to see cracks and issues of safety?

I hope the crosshead beam collapses when his Parapundeh family members, especially the Ikan Pari parapundeh, are travelling just beneath the beam. Only then, he will know and understand what we are talking about!

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written by storm62, September 10, 2009 00:21:13

if it collapses, then the toupee guy will say ...." It's an act of GOD "

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written by SiHangChai, September 10, 2009 00:28:09

MRR2 bridge is fallin down, X2, MRR2 bridge is fallin down, until someone die.

Malaysia's attitude, the Samy Vellu way. OK-lah take the money first, then if problem, find an excuse and blame it on someone else..

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written by ROSSONERI, September 10, 2009 00:32:21

Ayoooo, mana dia MACC...sebab apa tak siasat, lama sgt dah, penyiasatan terpilih ka ?...buat malu saja la woi!!!!!

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written by Oscar Winner, September 10, 2009 00:33:12

A special feature of "divide and rule" is this : "DIVIDE and LOOT". They divide the projects amongst themselves and then they loot. The project must have cost much less if not because of the looting. Then sub-standard work was carried out. Out of RM70mil for the repair work, they looted some, too, I'm sure. There goes more of rakyat's tax money into their pockets, and everyday road users, me included sometimes, use the flyover, not knowing when we will be the unlucky ones if the flyover collapses. Anyway, I am going to avoid that stretch of MRR2. Not worth taking the risk

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written by magickriver, September 10, 2009 00:34:29

Everything just for show, never mind the substance. So long as we can impress the Mat Salleh visitors and encourage them to invest in Malaysia... but don't they dare criticize our "Asian Values" and our "Guided Democracy" - we won't stand for that! That was what Dr M taught his underlings during his 22-year reign. He taught them very well. Now Malaysia is on the verge of becoming a Failed State - just like his buddy Robert Mugabe's fiefdom, Zimbabwe.

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written by arazak, September 10, 2009 00:34:34

Then the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu at first maintained that the cracks were not due to any design flaw.

However, a consultants' study later found that design deficiencies and improper anchoring at the crossbeams were responsible for the cracks.
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Yes, I still remember Samy Value appered in prime time TV news and said that anybody who mentioned that the cracks was due to the design flaw would be sued. This he said, was before the consultant’s study that there was is infact flawed design (I think it was an independant German consultant firm which conduct the study).

Now, million ringgit (maybe more?) questions here;-

Why did the scumbag former Works Minister made that remark of suing any parties if they mentioned any design flaw? Was he protecting Maunsell Sharma & Zakaria (MS&Z)? Shouldn’t he, as the Minister puts the interest of the public’s safety first than protecting MS&Z?

Only one thing that came to our minds why this scumbag is all out to protect MS&Z? I bet you know the answer!

He was being elected as the President of MIC in the “haram’ manner. Subsquently, when he became a Minister, more “haram’ things are coming his way and he consumed the “haram” things with greed!

“Haram jadah". . . for stealing the peoples' money and in return providing infrastructure that risked the lives of the people! In other words, the people are being stepped and spat at the same time by this scumbag!

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written by Liberian, September 10, 2009 01:14:58

Ini semua keci keci punya kes, samy velu cakap. MACC cari lagi besar punya kes. UMNO ada lagi besar punya kes, jangan takut Najib mesti tolong. Saya makan sikit sahaja kaki UMNO makan banyak.

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written by goman2k3, September 10, 2009 01:30:11

Guess we need to wait until some death before we can go sfter Sammy head and the contractor. If Najis or OTK does not take action they too will be responisble. GE13 timing ?

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written by tmxolp, September 10, 2009 03:05:26

Cunsultant : Ayoyoh! Projek kita mesti buat long term punya lah. 2-3 tahun pertama mesti baginya tengok cantik ,,dapat duit penuh dulu mah ... tahun ke 4 masalah timbul kita bole cari duit dengan maintenence dan repair .. tahun ke 5-6 barang rosak tak boleh pakai lagi kita buat yang baru punya la.. projek macam ini baru bole cari makan .

Sam : yala saya pun fikir begitu . sekarang kita kira berapa bole untung dulu ...

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written by educationist, September 10, 2009 05:26:41

I'm trying to get my time bearing correct.
I remember the govt. spent, what RM200 million? to correct the flaws after the last closure.
Is this report meant to indicate the risk to collapse is still unacceptable to the consultant concerned?

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written by kamwy, September 10, 2009 06:24:31

As a structural engineer, reading these reports just gave me a laughter. The mistakes made here are actually VERY VERY BASIC. However, only because of all the sequence of mistakes made - that these bridges would perhaps one day collapse. The only saving grace is that the typical structural design is carried out with a factor of safety of 1.5-2.0. So, perhaps, one day, on a massive-jam with the Minister of Work's entourage on it, the bridge WILL collapse.

Maunsell Sharma & Zakaria (MS&Z) is a decent company (with a bumiputera sleeping partner). Even if implicated, it would be the fault of a couple of design-engineers or more probable - the contractors. Who are the contractors???

By the way, the structural aspect of that bridge is ACTUALLY VERY SIMPLE. I cannot believe the engineers would have made such a simple mistake. But alas, in Malaysia, semua BOLEH JADI (all can happen).

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written by Sidq, September 10, 2009 06:44:43

The above report gives the evidences that the conduct and practices of MSZ will endangered the life and safety of the Public and yet this consultant is allowed to plan, design , supervise and manage more & more projects. I understand they even had changed the company name so that they can keep on getting jobs . How can we allow this type of irresponsible people to go on endangering people life and safety. What is the Board of Engineers doing on this. I know Ashok was appointed by Samy as the one of the member of Board of Engineers. I think that was why no action was taken against him. BEM hemndak bukti. Report daripada kesemua foregn consultant bukan bukti? Tengok Stadium di Trengganu apa dah jadi? Kata sebulan nak bagi laporan. Why dont BEM reprimand the Submitting Engineers and ask them what had gone wrong? Why is BEM doing? Simpan telor lah semua dan perhabis duit rakyat.

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written by wongnoball, September 10, 2009 06:49:37

Malaysia are so use to the Rubbish Royal Commission when people Dies.....

Revolution begins now. With 101% voters turn out in N9 by election....the signal is CLEAREST. If Perak have not woken Malaysia, Anwar, Kugan, Teoh, Revathi, Lina Joy, Cow, ....etc...then nothing Will. I have decided to transac my business using USA Dollar, Euro Dollar or Singapore Dollar from this month...Stuff the Malaysia Ringgit...its DOOM!!.... Do you business TAX Mau Ringgit!!

Lets hope more Earth Quake to shake Malaysia.....then we want UMNO Leaders and their Racist tools HUNG to Death or Rot in Jail. PLease don't expect the Agong or Sultan to do anything either.....only hope when their motorcade passes by and the bridge collapse and Killing them all...I call that Padan Muka!! The Sultan and Agong have a small window of opportunity to take power via a Coup and restore Malaysia but they realise now that their grip on the Army is also thinning........What are you ornag biasa Malaysia going to do....learn to make weapons...be alert. Malaysia cannot exist in the same format forever...be the Game Changer!!

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written by smalluncle, September 10, 2009 07:10:49

Well, with the increasing numbers of tremors felt in Malaysia due to earthquake in our neighbour, surely one day this MRR2 will take 100's of life with it.

But then, SAMY will say "ITU TUHAN (oooph, Soli, this word was patented) GOD PUNYA KERJA, APA BOLIH BUAT"

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written by Msian Idol3, September 10, 2009 08:37:48

Wah, MACC never heard of this case and if they did they are scare of Semi Voodo. Looks like all major component parties in Barisan have some major money making deals for their leaders. I hope allFat BN cats will choke on their ill gotten gains.

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written by Wisdom above, September 10, 2009 09:27:58

"cracks in cross head beam " ... fill in the cracks...etc
So someone attempted to hide the grave dangers lurking for MMR2 road users ?
The correct solution is for the whole MMR2 to be rebuild over again?
Can some Civil Structural Engineers from the private sectors please give your life savings view on this " DANGER " for motorists using MMR2 daily ? Good criminal EXPOSE for all to read and take ACTION ! SABM .

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written by mikewang, September 10, 2009 09:34:28

From the photos, it is pretty obvious that those are not surface (or plaster) cracks which can be rectified by filling the concrete gaps with plaster.
It simply means the embedded steel in those concrete beams are out of specifications either in their sizes, numbers and construction and are showing the warning signs of failure. Every vehicle that passes through on top would add stress cycles to the under specified steel bars in the beam and will accelerate its failure because of metal fatigue.

The then works minister couldn't have put it better in lay man terms.
"The steel placement did not follow specifications," Samy said in reply to a question from Speaker Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib.

You cannot rectify a cross head beam with secondary reinforcement unless you know to what extent the beams are out of specification. The safest way is to shut down MRR2 and replace/rebuild this cross head beam before catastrophe strikes.

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written by sydput, September 10, 2009 09:45:06

Shouldn't Maunsell Sharma and zakaria be deregistered from the Malaysian engineering body and prevented from practising?
What are course of action will IEM (Institute of Engineers Malaysia) take?

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written by mikewang, September 10, 2009 11:33:10

Dear sydput,

The registration body for professional engineers practising in this country is the Board of Engineers, Malaysia.

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written by cruzeiro, September 10, 2009 11:48:04

http://cruzinthots.********.co...-mrr2.html

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written by SocratesI, September 10, 2009 11:56:37

This is what happens when an office boy becomes the Works Minister ... can only happen in Malaysia Boleh ... office boy Boleh jadi Minister, but mana Boleh do a good job which is too big for his fcuking head ??
.

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written by PRman, September 10, 2009 12:20:33

There should be corrective actions now to repair the MRR2 asap to ensure road safety to all users. I will be extremely worry to use that bridge from now on.

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written by cheemengwong, September 10, 2009 12:32:34

Depending on the time of day MRR2 collapses, the fatality figure would be high in the morning and night. I pray that fatality is minimum and that Samy is telling the truth.

Somehow my naluri tells me the consultant is RIGHT and someday it is going to HOLLAPSE.

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written by safetyknob, September 10, 2009 15:21:00

Forget the repairs just build a brand new bridge!!! Do make sure that the contract goes 100% to the best Japs or Koreans bridge builders. Expensive but they'll get things right. No amount of money is worth to quantify the loss of human lives & the indirect misfortune caused to family members etc.

All these corrupted monsters should get their heads bashed in by a baseball bat!!!

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written by AngryTaxpayer, September 10, 2009 15:35:26

Recently, I drove past that area and let me tell you, I was shocked to see how those idiots think by dressing up the defects with safety netting, the cracks will go away on their own!!??

Here's someone else who took pictures of it

http://msdaff.*********.com/2009/09/01/dont-worry-that-flyover-is-definitely-safe-to-use/

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written by lynn, September 10, 2009 15:41:38

Just drove over the bridge abt an hour ago; it did feel 'scary'. And then i came back to my PC and read this! Aiyoyo, samy!

If the MRR2 shld collapse, pls collapse while umno-led bn govt is still in power. On a wicked note, it would also be poetic justic if it killed some bn voters.

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written by kamwy, September 10, 2009 15:44:06

for someone who asked - you don't really have to rebuild the whole stretch of highway bridges for the structural problem above - if the repair was done early (before the corrosion of the steel reinforcements and other further cracking).

The so-called beam reinforcements were not placed to specs - i think - refer to 1-3:

1. The lapping of the top reinforcements at the middle of the cross beam. From basic engineering - the bending moment and tendency to break are the highest at that stretch of beam (just above the column). To lap the bars there is what my late professor called "fatal error". the engineer should be shot.

2- Column bars not lapped into the cross-beam. I wonder whether these fellas have gone to engineering school. Imagine, you re trying to sit a coffin (keranda) on top of a pole, without tieing them together or nailing it down. wish it's samy's coffin instead.

3 - There was insufficient ties/stirrups in the beam (leading to shear cracking). This would be a design error, rather than construction error - unless the contractors have stolen some steels. haha.

I think the recommendations (post-tensioning, filing the cracks, and fixing the column-beam connections) would be sufficient..if done by a proper engineer/contractor. hahaha.

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written by raven1958, September 10, 2009 20:12:44

Like that SMART tunnel...a not so smart piece of work this MRR....

Mana duit Samy...Lu kasi sama siapa...kasi tau sekarang...kalau tidak awak punya harta mesti PR seal....mana mana pun kamu sudah kasi sembunyi lu jangan ingat kita orang tak boleh trace....

Toyol sama Lu sama...lembu tunggu disembilih. Tapi lu orang punya kepala..satu orang pun tak mau simpan...takada laku

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written by nanyangren, September 10, 2009 20:47:15

On my God - as an engineer, I am telling all to close the MRR2 immediatedly.

All those people out there - avoid the MRR2 now!

Place those tensioners as recommended immediatedly. Even then, I have my doubt - add another column or tear down the beams and redo, jams or no jams.

Only in Malaysia, we can continue to operate with these defects so glaringly.

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written by nanyangren, September 10, 2009 20:51:23

Dear Kamwy,

design safety 2.0. Fatal flaw reduce it to probbaly 1.20 now. Take away subsatndard cement, steel and improper curing - probably at 0.98, what the number is, only God knows.

My point is, dont take comfort of teh safety of 2.0 margin. Those were meant to cover inconsistency of materials, load and other variations, not a design flaw.

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written by DamnPekcek, September 11, 2009 11:41:38

As an structural engineer, i also seconded Kamwy, mikewang & nanyangren. The bridge is just NOT SAFE! You might think engineers are over reacted, but you are warned, in case something happen.

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written by DamnPekcek, September 11, 2009 11:43:19

I'm not doing bridge though, but i couldn't think of anyway of replacing the cantilever beam without taking down the bridge segment.
Semi-Value told a big lie when he say the bridge was having 'shrikage' cracks!

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written by fairnessforall, September 11, 2009 15:09:17

This is why all goverment project contracts are considered Official Secrets so they can cheat and plunder the rakyats money and no one knows exactly what was signed

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written by kamwy, September 11, 2009 15:21:09

dear DamnPekcek,

The negative capacity of the bridges can be improved by post-tensioning the cross beam, as stated by the report. that would also add some torsional resistance and shear capacity. no need for fancy composite material wrapping etc. the column-beam connection ...well that would be tricky. haha..but i haven't see the details for that yet.

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written by DamnPekcek, September 11, 2009 16:16:30

Dear Kamwy,

I'm not sure how often you pass through the infamous bridge, but i do, and very very often.
The 2nd rectification was carry out, with the post-tensioned tendons (i believe my observation is correct) throught the both side of surface of the cantilever beams.
The current situation might be due to the lost of force due to relaxation or shrinkage.
Another simple reason why it was a design fault. Out of 33 pillars, 32 experience similiar failure. You know why the one doesn't? Because it is simply supported.

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written by Vincent, September 11, 2009 19:33:25

Any disaster happened pls don't blame SamyNOvalue bcos it's an act of god.

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written by Jan, September 12, 2009 14:39:04

My lecturer once told me when a concrete structure fails it fails. No amount of mucking around it will save it. The best thing to do is to take down the bridge and do it all over again, this time with properly qualified people like kamwy above.
But to do it again is going to cost very dearly not to mention the inconvenience to the motorists there. It's a catch22 situation there.

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written by Limau, September 12, 2009 14:47:23

This guy samy has to go. Even after loose the election he still has the cheeks to be the presedent of MIC. The bridge must fall on his toppe head.

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written by Sagaladoola, September 13, 2009 14:38:32

MACC , where are you ????

Bring him to Plaza Masalam for questioning lah ! No double standards please and make sure all windows are closed.. Hmmn, come to think of it , I don't mind if you make an exception on the windows this time around.

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written by nanyangren, September 13, 2009 21:24:23

Anyway looking at it again, there is no way except to pull it down and rebuild. It should make a lot of contractors happy anyway.

Post tensioning bars will only help of the cracks have not developed. Now putting those bars in will just focus more stress on the weak joints, making it a pivot point that will be repeatedly stressed.

It will probably hasten the collapse.

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