Emulate Hong Kong for hillside development
Athi VeerangganPublished: Dec 16, 2008 5:08 PM | Updated: Dec 16, 2008 6:30 PM
The federal government should set up a geotechnical engineering office (GEO) and introduce guidelines ala Hong Kong to improve hill slope safety as a pre-requisite to highland development of building and infrastructure.
Penang CM Lim is urging the federal government to introduce guidelines ala Hong Kong to improve hill slope safety to avert future landslide tragedies.
The federal government should set up a geotechnical engineering office (GEO) and introduce guidelines ala Hong Kong to improve hill slope safety as a pre-requisite to highland development of building and infrastructure.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the Highland Tower and Bukit Antarabangsa tragedies in the Klang Valley have taught Malaysians bitter lessons that the government needed to undertake proactive and preventive measures to avert landslide risk in future.
"How many disasters more we need before realising the need for stringent rules and enforcement on hillside development?" he said, calling on the federal government to legislate the necessary laws soon.
He said Hong Kong set up its GEO and introduce a comprehensive slope safety system some 30 years ago following repeated fatal landslide disasters, claiming some 470 lives.
"Since then Hong Kong has successfully reduced landslide risk, reflected in the substantial drop in landslide fatality rate," he told journalists at his Komtar office in Georgetown today.
He suggested the federal government and state governments to adopt the Hong Kong-type (photo, left) measure to ensure hill slope development, especially in urban areas, are correctly carried out and maintained to enhance the cities' outlook and façade.
Deputy Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak has said the federal government was planning to legislate regulations similar to Hong Kong's guidelines for hillside development to prevent more landslides in future.
The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has also stated it would look into introducing a new hillside law based on Hong Kong's buildings ordinance and dangerous hillside regulations "to reduce the risk posed to the public from known dangerous or potentially dangerous private slopes or retaining walls".
Landslip warning system
Under the Hong Kong law, landowners, both government and private, are responsible for slope repair and upgrading works, slope inspection and slope maintenance.
Lim also said that the government should constantly study government-owned slopes and carry out maintenance and upgrading works on sub-standard slopes while actively encouraging similar efforts by private owners.
He suggested a landslip warning system to be installed to alert the public on potential landslides and called on a public awareness campaign to be carried out to educate the people on precautionary steps to be taken if and when the system was in force.
"The Hong Kong GEO developed a risk-based priority classification system utilising the results of quantitative risk assessment and created a slope catalogue containing essential information on substandard slopes," Lim said.
Since it was the responsibility of the government to take proactive and preventive measures to avert landslide disasters, he indicated that the Penang government would take the lead by adopting the Hong Kong hillside guidelines.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the Highland Tower and Bukit Antarabangsa tragedies in the Klang Valley have taught Malaysians bitter lessons that the government needed to undertake proactive and preventive measures to avert landslide risk in future."How many disasters more we need before realising the need for stringent rules and enforcement on hillside development?" he said, calling on the federal government to legislate the necessary laws soon.
He said Hong Kong set up its GEO and introduce a comprehensive slope safety system some 30 years ago following repeated fatal landslide disasters, claiming some 470 lives.
"Since then Hong Kong has successfully reduced landslide risk, reflected in the substantial drop in landslide fatality rate," he told journalists at his Komtar office in Georgetown today.
He suggested the federal government and state governments to adopt the Hong Kong-type (photo, left) measure to ensure hill slope development, especially in urban areas, are correctly carried out and maintained to enhance the cities' outlook and façade.Deputy Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak has said the federal government was planning to legislate regulations similar to Hong Kong's guidelines for hillside development to prevent more landslides in future.
The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has also stated it would look into introducing a new hillside law based on Hong Kong's buildings ordinance and dangerous hillside regulations "to reduce the risk posed to the public from known dangerous or potentially dangerous private slopes or retaining walls".
Landslip warning system
Under the Hong Kong law, landowners, both government and private, are responsible for slope repair and upgrading works, slope inspection and slope maintenance.
Lim also said that the government should constantly study government-owned slopes and carry out maintenance and upgrading works on sub-standard slopes while actively encouraging similar efforts by private owners.He suggested a landslip warning system to be installed to alert the public on potential landslides and called on a public awareness campaign to be carried out to educate the people on precautionary steps to be taken if and when the system was in force.
"The Hong Kong GEO developed a risk-based priority classification system utilising the results of quantitative risk assessment and created a slope catalogue containing essential information on substandard slopes," Lim said.
Since it was the responsibility of the government to take proactive and preventive measures to avert landslide disasters, he indicated that the Penang government would take the lead by adopting the Hong Kong hillside guidelines.
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