Stupid Tunnel and the Great KL Flood

(Pic from The Star Thursday March 5, 2009)


I am not sure whether I should be amused, bemused, or bewildered.

Honestly, I don't even know whether I should laugh or should cry.

I am of course referring to last week's flood in KL, when a good part of downtown KL was flooded.

Of course many were saying that we should not blame the government, or for that matter SMART tunnel. Of course the SMART tunnel was not supposed to alleviate flood in the KL, so says all the mainstream newspaper in Malaysia, and the SMART spokesman has told everyone not to blame them since the flood was beyond them.

Of course!

After spending RM2 Billion, SMART tunnel is just another project to enrich the coffer of the cronies.

I have written about the SMART Tunnel way back in 2007, and I guess there is nothing else I could ad here, except t0 say that when the project was on-going, the same newspaper were trumpeting that the flood will be something of a past in Kuala Lumpur.

But now? Tu yang headline Utusan kata "Project SMART atasi banjir kilat di Lembah Klang" tuh aper?

Nevermind, I should not say much. It gets my blood boiling and it is not good for my health!

Smart Tunnel & The Stupid Bureaucrats (posted June 12, 2007 at Yahoo.360.com)

I am furious.
HELLO, one don't spend that much money if it is not going to alleviate the flood problem. We put up the hole just for the sake of having a hole in the ground?
The bureucrats were scrambling trying to defend themselves. First they said that the tunnel is not fully functional (the flood mitigation part). Then they said that it will not fully solved KL flood problem. Yet, once again the TPM blames it on people throwing away rubbish into the river.
Ahh, puhleezzzz, please don't insult the people's intelligence. Is the smart tunnel another way to spend the taxpayers' monies and give away contracts at inflated prices and the people got nothing out of it? A RM2b smart tunnel being thwarted by people throwing rubbish? Wow, I am amazed by the Samy Vellu-styled twisted logic and the ancient technology that we are implementing. Or may be the stupidity and shallowness of bureucrats implementing advanced technology.
(I think it is with God's grace that He is showing the true face of our bureucrats. Within a month after the opening of the smart tunnel, KL had its big flood. Not once, but twice in two days! In China, many would be executed by the court; in Japan, they would commit harakiri but in Malaysia, they will get front-paged, with a payrise and promotion to boot. )
If it is not fully functional, then why charge RM2 per car?

After spending RM1.9 b on the so-called smart terowong, the government is saying, to quote Utusan, "Jangan harapkan SMART - Terowong dwifungsi itu tidak dapat atasi sepenuhnya banjir di KL". Typical government backtracking, after spending billions!

You compare between the recent report on the left and the previous reports on the right. Tell me which words you did not understand, Ir Keizrul (Ketua Pengarah JPS) or were the mainstream newspapers lying when they published the earlier reports? It is simple malay that says it all - JAMIN BEBAS, ATASI. Strong words indeed. I am ashamed to be sharing the Ir title with you. Oh it is ok, I don't go by that title and in any case it is no longer being used by the Institution of Engineers (IEM). It has reverted to the simple english word Engr.
If I have the time, I would search for all the reports that have highlighted the 'smartness' of the smart tunnel the past 5 years and we shall see if what they are saying makes any sense or if they are lying through their teeth. I am sure earlier when trying to justify the tunnel, they would even say that the smart tunnel is so smart that not only KL flash flood will be a thing of the past, it even qualifies to study at Harvard, or can even makes teh tarik and nasik lemak, if it wants to. Typical exaggerated justification paper.

Nah bacalah if you have the time, this time more technical. (If you like boring work done by boring engineers, bacalah. There must be a reason why it is called boring! Hahaha (pun intended!)) The title says smart solution to KL's flooding. It implies THE solution, not partial solution. A solution that is implemented will solve a problem. Then you would declare that as a solution. (I love the internet era. Info at your finger's tip. It is ok, Dr M. With the internet, Melayu tak mudah lupa dah.)

We love doing piecemeal solutions - solution that does not solve anything as a standalone project, but require say 10 other billion-ringgit projects to make them functional. We add pumps here and there, at another place besarkan longkang, or add another drain, so in the end all these piecemeals solutions would get you nowhere but trouble. I wonder where did they go for their university education or did they plan this so that the cake can be shared around? Remember the LRT debacle? We have the Star, the Putra, the Monorail, and the KTM Komuter and yet this is the world's worst disintegrated and disoriented railway system!
These are two of the many things that make us the lauging stock of the world.
I am boiling.
PS Yang baru kawin tu, tapi pengantin lama, tidur lah waktu malam je. Siang-siang ni, jenguk-jenguk lah anak-anak buah buat keje (to quote Rosli Gelong). Gaji pun baru naik 35 persen.