By Shukri Rahman

Kajang, March 7, 2005 : Kumpulan Ikram Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Protasco Bhd, may be appointed as a consultant for the preparation of the National Slope Master Plan which will address slope-related matters.

Speaking to reporters after the opening ceremony of a seminar on “Landslide Monitoring and Disaster Early Warning System” here today, Dato’ Ir. Dr. Ashaari Mohamad, Public Works Department (PWD)’s Director, Slope Engineering Branch said, “The government will give priority to local consultants including Ikram. They have better local knowledge.” However he added that the government is also open to foreign ideas and knowledge.

Costing about RM7 million, the Master Plan, which will cover all slopes in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, will involve a lot of data collection as well as the co-operation of all the relevant agencies such as the Meteorological, Geological, Environment, Drainage & Irrigation Departments.

Dato’ Ir. Dr. Ashaari said a “rough” Master Plan is expected to be ready by the end of the year. He added that more than 100 sites which are quite critical or partially critical have been identified.

Earlier, in his opening speech, Dato’ Prof. Ir. Dr. Wahid Omar, PWD’s Deputy Director General 1, traced the formation of the agency’s Slope Engineering Branch in February 2004, after the rockfall incident at Bukit Lanjan on 24th November 2003. The incident resulted in six months of road closure for road clearing and remedial works.

Headed by Dato’ Ir. Dr. Ashaari, the Slope Engineering Branch is responsible for slope failure investigations, repair works, early warning system, slope cataloguing, data digitalizing, public awareness, specifications and guidelines. The seminar was organised by Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College (KLIUC), Protasco Bhd’s education arm and the Slope Engineering Branch.

Among the papers presented were “Slope Management and Risk Tracking System” by Slope Engineering Division’s Hj Abu Harith Samsudin, “Landslide Remote Monitoring System” by Prof. Dr. Mahadzer Mahmud, KLIUC President, “GIS Base Landslide Evaluation Systems” by Mr Satoshi Togo of Japan’s Pacific Consultants Corp., “ Monitoring System for Landslide Disaster Using Fiber Optics” by Mr Hidemiki Uehara of Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and “Geo-Risk Evaluation Caused by Rainfall” by Mr Hiroyasu Ohtsu of Japan’s Kyoto University.

The seminar was attended by more than 200 participants.