Thesun 2008-12-19 Page09 Hillslope Development Requires Standard Regulations

theSun

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| FRIDAY DECEMBER 19 2008

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Four robbers shot dead PERMATANG PAUH: Police shot dead four men, believed to be members of a housebreaking and robbery gang active in the state, in a shootout at Guar Perahu here at about 5am yesterday. State deputy police chief Datuk Salleh Mat Rasid said two of the men were foreigners, believed to be Indonesians, and two others locals. All were aged between 30 and 40. He said police, upon receiving a tip off on a gang seen loitering in Guar Perahu, sent an officer and seven men to investigate. The team saw a dark blue Pajero with its occupants behaving in a suspicious manner at the junction to Taman Guar Perahu and tailed the vehicle. “Upon realising the police were behind them, they accelerated and one of them opened fire,” Salleh said, adding that the four men were killed in the ensuing shootout. He said a pistol and

Police examine the vehicle the men were in during the shootout.

several sharp weapons including housebreaking tools were found in the vehicle. Initial investigation showed that the two locals had criminal records, with one on the wanted list. The two foreigners had no identification papers on them. The Pajero carried false registration plates and police

were investigating whether it was a stolen vehicle, Salleh said. He said that with the gang crippled, police believed several housebreakings and robberies in the state had been solved. The gang’s modus operandi had been to break into houses, tie up the occupants and escape with valuables. – Bernama

Hillslope development requires standard regulations KUALA LUMPUR: A harmonised regulatory framework is required to facilitate safe hillslope development in the country, say engineers. The Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) said in a statement released yesterday that the four key parties concerned with ensuring safe hillslope development are the local authorities, planners, engineers and developers. It pointed out that negligence on the part of any of these parties could have disastrous consequences such as the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide on Dec 6. However, it said, there should be no speculation until a thorough investigation into the cause of the landslide was conducted by technical experts. It is the duty of the local authorities to enforce regulations relating to the planning, design, construction and maintenance of residential and commercial buildings on hill slopes, in line with the required standard, the IEM said. Local authorities, however, are usually not well staffed with engineers and rely on other agencies such as the Public Works Department, Drainage and Irrigation Department and Malaysian Public Works Institute (Ikram) for advice, it said. In addition, guidelines vary across the country, which results in inconsistency. Hence, the need for a uniform set of regulations which would apply to development in the country as a whole. The IEM said due diligence reports are important owing to the complex nature of hillslope development, adding that steep hill slopes can be built to a standard level deemed to be safe, provided that only competent engineers are engaged. It said one way to improve the level of public safety in hillslope projects would be to study development systems used by other countries, citing Hongkong as a country where a relatively successful system has been implemented.

Not Verticas Residensi THE Page 6 report “Worried about Bukit Ceylon project” on Tuesday wrongly identified the relevant project as Verticas Residensi. It was in fact a neighbouring development of a 34-storey commercial and residential project. The error is regretted.

Malaysia needs to develop her own comprehensive system, incorporating elements such as the reviewing of regulatory frameworks, upgrading substandard and ageing hill slopes, and maintenance of slopes. Public awareness of hillslope failures should also be improved.