Questions remain over Penang landslides

The Safety Guideline For Hillsite Development published in 2012 by the Penang state government was intended to improve slope safety. Now six years later, the state leads all others in terms of the number of landslides and victims. In the Tanjung Bungah landslide of Oct 21 last year, 11 were killed. This time in Paya Terubong, there are likely to be even more victims.

Since the guideline stipulates that developers engage qualified engineers to design and supervise hill site developments and checkers to ensure the quality of work during construction, and both these landslides occurred at construction sites, we have to ask:

1. Were recommendations in the guideline followed?

2. If so, is the guideline ineffective or inadequate? Or were recommendations forming the guideline ignored?

One year after the Tanjung Bungah landslide, there is still no report from the commission of inquiry. Why? Are there facts unmentionable in public or were the experts preparing the report unable to agree upon the cause(s) of the failure?

Of practical consequence are questions such as these: Should all works on hill sites stop as already demanded by some? Or at least until the causes of these two landslides are understood and appropriate changes are made to the guideline? Or should we just soldier on and wait for yet another landslide?

It is pertinent to remember that after the Tanjung Bungah landslide, it was revealed that all government departments involved in the process approved and supported the project with the exception of the DoE which objected – but not because the slopes were thought unsafe. That means all the departments responsible for evaluating slope safety have failed. Were they negligent or was the approval process simply beyond their capabilities? These are pertinent questions to ask in view of another landslide with so many fatalities.

Stopping the development of hill sites is not a viable or easy option. Neither is it necessary as shown by the relatively safe records in places like Hong Kong. Instead, the situation will only begin to improve when:

• There is complete transparency in the entire approval process of such projects.
• Those who design and execute are held accountable when things go wrong.
• Causes of failures are fully and correctly investigated, made public and open to discussion so that the guideline can be amended where needed.

After the Tanjong Bungah landslide, I have asked what if we had a similar incident at another site or, worse still, if it involved an occupied high-rise next to or on a hill site? At Paya Terubong, thankfully, no high-rise was involved. Nonetheless, lives have been lost. Will the administrators and politicians make the right decision? Or will the people of Penang make the decision for them at the next election?

NgCN is an engineering geologist. -FMT