GEORGE TOWN: An geospatial expert today warned that a 10km tunnel, which is part of the controversial Pan Island Link 1 (PIL 1) highway, might pass through fault lines that could cause irreversible damage.

Kam Suan Pheng, a soil scientist, said Penang island comprised of “one granitic rock” and had naturally occurring fault lines or cracks, where water would usually seep through.

She said if these were hit during the tunnelling process, it could spell disaster.

Kam said based on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, the tunnel would cross three such fault lines or cracks.

She said the EIA report for PIL 1 warned that it could affect the stability of the iconic Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple, the Air Itam Dam and the Penang Hill railway complex.

“Imagine, when you are tunnelling through and you hit a fault (line). The water that has long seeped into the fault lines will gush into the tunnel.

“I know people will say there are engineering methods to solve this. But even before you can put in engineering reinforcement, you might have water and mud gushing in,” Kam told participants of a talk hosted by the Penang Forum here today.

The PIL 1 project will connect a suburb close to Gurney Drive in the north of Penang island to the airport in the south.

The highway will have a 10km section with four tunnels separated by viaducts and elevated roads, which will be “drilled and blasted” through the hill slopes of Penang Hill, Paya Terubong and Sungai Ara.

The state government is adamant that the tunnels are a better option than elevated structures that will necessitate the cutting down of trees and the evacuation of residents along the route.


Geospatial expert Kam Suan Pheng speaking at a briefing organised by NGO Penang Forum in George Town today.

Air Itam dam

Kam said the cracks would not just affect the tunnelling process but would also have a domino effect on the Air Itam Dam, which was constructed as an earth dam 56 years ago and is extremely fragile.

She said with the dam perched at 235m above sea level, the slightest movement would bring gallons of water gushing down to the Air Itam valley, possibly affecting all people in its path.

She said this was based on red flags from the EIA report, indicating that “collapse and subsidence” may occur as a result of tunnelling through the fragile areas near the fault lines.

The EIA report in question states that “areas intersecting with fault zones are highly fractured and vulnerable to collapse”.

The report also says tunnelling work may damage nearby condominiums, the Kek Lok Si Temple, the Air Itam Dam and even the Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill) complex.

Kam said in the 1,195-page EIA report, there was no single mention of the stability of the granitic bedrock they were planning to tunnel through and the impact of underground water flow.

She said the report, however, had advised a detailed study of the fault lines along the tunnel alignment near the hills so that a “refined, safe route” could be found.

“What the EIA does not say is, what if the safe route cannot be found? And the project would have started, with money ploughed in already.

“Even if a safe route was found, they make no mention at what cost.”

‘What to do with 750,000 lorry-loads of debris?’

In a blow-by-blow analysis of the EIA report, Kam found the report to be highly unsatisfactory as there was no proper risk analysis.

She said there was dubious data, assumptions and unverifiable claims in the report.

Until now, she added, traffic and social impact studies were yet to be made public.

Kam said the EIA report made no mention about rock debris caused by drilling and blasting through the hills.

Based on her calculation, she said an estimated 2.5 million cubic metres of rock debris would need to be carried away.

“That is 750,000 lorry-loads of five-tonne lorries. There is no mention on how this debris would be managed in the three- to four-year period to build the tunnel.

“And what access roads would they use? Presently, there are very narrow and dangerous roads that you might have to take to get there. Can you imagine these five-tonne lorries going through them?”

Air and sound pollution

Kam said the air pollution projection from the project was also questionable, with a nitrous oxide reading of just below 2 micrograms per cubic metre (ʊg/m3) in the George Town area.

She said government statistics show 18-25 ʊg/m3 in the Gelugor area, while the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area was in the range of 18 to 94.

Kam said when the EIA pollution data was referred to an expert in Oxford University, the response was that the 2 ʊg/m3 was “only likely in places far away from human civilisation”.

“The predicted air quality is better than reality,” she said.

She said the rainfall data used historical data, and did not take into account climate change and sudden bouts of heavy rain which had caused flash floods in Penang before.

why rich and famous like risky tsunami prone seafront then? i guess they'are smarter than low class bangla in prai. I'm so keen to understand rich's people mentality ma. wakaka

Foreign investors are watching what the new govt. is doing. Lack of crediblity will destroy all future flow of investments. No one want to deal with crooks.

ys. crook people, leader cakap TAK serupa bikin. genuine boss show leadership by example. we have seen so many leaders in our nation with lack of credibility., unfortunately. 64 vows in GE manifesto no need to fulfil la., the best example

fully certified or not, not important. Its integrity, honesty in any profession which unfortunalely lack off nowadays. An honest dedicated cleaner is much better than a crooked PM, or leader

Why seafront facing property build on reclaimed sand at Pen Island more expensive than real land of butterworth Prai? Till now, i can't understand. wakaka

Dear Calvintaneng, since you live close to Johor, need yr help as 'eagle eye' to check on the status of township JV with Binapuri. Any idea on the sales of its residential township?

If I'm not mistaken, over 51% stake is unconditional MGO. Peanut price privatisation means suffering to everyone

If I'm not mistaken, over 51% stake is unconditional MGO. Peanut price privatisation means suffering to everyone

If I'm not mistaken, over 51% stake is unconditional MGO. Peanut price privatisation means suffering to everyone

Govt.,s main focus is on policy making, not involved in any risky private enterprise. Why we never learn from past mistake? I thought new govt. will take the chance to do complete reform by privatising all business? our govt. intervene too much in private competitive business which leading to cronyism, blatant abuse of power?

i guess many undervalued property ctr will be privatised within next few years if demand still not fully recover. butaland is one of them

speedy boy, thank you for your insight on the fortune of our national car. I like this idea of cross sale of parts to all different car brands...new learning for me today

its a great idea. we can sell potong to 3rd world, like bangla, nepal, indon, ma. got demand one... wakaka

i have no enough money but dream to retire early as well. wakaka

Look at Jack Ma, Alibaba boss. at 55 years old, he give up alibaba, retired, and enjoy life already. Nothing is permanent in life.

Dr M, Anwar should be advisers. Let the young cabinet members prove performance. learn the word trust, delegation in leadership...Boss no need to work like lembu one. wakaka

At 93 years old, look so tired, fragile but still have to work. So, what do you expect from a Orang tuawho should enjoy life now ma? respect, and pity this orang tua ma. all other cabinet ministers do what then? One day, if i'm at 93 yrs old,mmmm Insya Allah if i still live then. wakaka

When will our nation achieve what Norway done? i guess remain a dream only.Forget and forgive about the new govt. wakaka

We have myr1trillion debts. Look at Norway....see the difference with our great boastful govt.?

Norwegian sovereign state wealth fund, which is the world's largest, has reached the sum of USD 1 trillion.

The news was reported by the Norwegian Central Bank, which controls the capital.

This means that every citizen of the Norwegian population of 5.3 million people is worth almost USD 189,000. "I do not think anyone expected the fund to reach USD 1 trillion when the first transfer of oil revenues was made in May 1996, "Ingwe Slingstad, executive director of Norges Bank's investment department, said in a statement.

Norwegian Savings Fund aims to invest in the state's social system when one day the country's oil is exhausted. The government, which puts all the "black gold" revenue in the fund, can draw on it only the equivalent of the expected return on money, but not the hard capital.

Last year, the government first began to withdraw more money from the fund than investing in it. This was due to the sharp fall in the price of oil.

Norway is the largest oil producer in Western Europe.

The Norwegian State Pension Fund, as its official name, was founded in 1990 and invests primarily in shares (representing 65.1% of its portfolio at the end of the second quarter), but also in real estate and bonds.

With shares in nearly 9,000 companies, the fund owns 1.3% of global market capitalization and 2.3% of Europe's market capitalization.

All the rich & talents already fleece overseas. Only left poor salaryman like me staying here with all indon, nepal, bangla. Next 10 years, migrants population will bypass locals. dont know what will happen to new chinese future generations? dont dared to see the future. wakaka

what to do? we chase away all high net worth rich migrants from china, etc. in forest city. we encourage all bangla, indon come in. very good govt ma. wakaka

More green parks for free exercise, cycling should be built to achieve cleaner air and healthier lifestyle. 3rd national bicycle projectat urban area is much better than polluting cars. we spend over myr20billion each year for healthcare cost. Majority local MY health is big concern to nation's productivity with so many fake Medical leave. wakaka

3rd national car is disguise to bail out BILLIONS LOSS MAKING silterra +crtm actually

myr10K levy on foreign workers. who will come into MY again? without foreign workers, industry factory is paralyzed. local chinese also lazy nowadays. spend weekend talk nonsense at this forum. wakaka

we should legalise game machine like Japan, collect tax. Over rules only feed corrupted enforcement officers i.o adding into national coffers. Lest, life is so boring blogging here talk nonsense every day. wakaka

the best part we produce is car jacks. car jacks on high political figures till upside down...- budaya mengampu...wakaka

Pls do the cleansing in over bloating civil servants before talk about new tax.

Ths stupid govt. should just legalise marijuana, collect tax. Legalise also soccer game, collect tax. why new govt. so stupid?

so, what about loss in share trading? govt. give us tax credit? Not everyone make money. many got HUGE holding paper loss actually.

if really myr0.50 means myr0.05 before consolidation price, yes- we all do Tong Sampah vacuum operation. wakaka

this ctr. is not suitable for trading, contra. its NENEK ctr. for long term OLD investors. if you look for dividend, you can choose Protasco….borrow money to give dividend ma. wakaka

why toilet paper rise so much? wakaka

Stephen Chow Sing Chi's hilarious story. wakaka

yes. I'm still holding tight some this salted fish..wakaka...aluminium price just record price again today Aluminium rallies to 5-week high as Hydro shuts Brazil output

MANILA (Oct 3): Aluminium prices climbed more than 2 percent to their highest in nearly five weeks on Wednesday after Norsk Hydro said it will halt production at its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil, fanning worries over tighter supply of the raw material.

Aluminium easily outperformed all other base metals, most of which were weaker amid slower trading in Asia with top metals consumer China still away for a week-long National Day holiday.

Three-month aluminium on the LME was up 2.2 percent at $2,165 a tonne, as of 0735 GMT, after earlier hitting $2,171, its loftiest since Aug. 30.

yes, we all should challenge Dr M 3rd. POTONG version now following his traits. wakaka

Whatever Dr M said not important. What Dr M try to portray to the world is the courage to challenge the status quo. If other cabinet members or many govt. instituions dared to tick off Najis, 1MDB wont happen

subscription sure drop due to conman job. I've just cut off the subscription. every month, it will ''purposely make service out of service to force us pay repair service cost. this is conman tactic on innocent customers....no wonder all fleece

Bought some this frozen halal food ctr. Damn too cheap to ignore it. Try makan berak ctr. wakaka

myr36billion is very large sum-1mDB. Dr m is right again on this PTPN debts. everyone must make play part to save Malaysia. TONGKAT ALI era is over....

Many Buddha mantra also in Sanskrit. I like to sing Buddha mantra in Sanskrit.

Bahasa root is from sanskrit. many words are copied.

PAS-Parti Ajaran 'S".....you guess...wakaka

Praying enough in these holy states. No need work hard, no need development. That's why i said DrMis right to cancel ECRL, its a waste of money develop holly states. wakaka

printing as much as USD to artificially pump up DJ Index. not sure what will happen next? kasi shok sendiri syndrom. wakaka

China has FTA with russia+Japan+ S. Korea+Japan . it also has RCEP deal to depend on....many other alternatives...Trump has 'awaken' Beijing that it must change export model for future survival. focus on local self substaining, self reliant large consumption

MY stock market winners mostly from INSIDER INFO. Mostly gamble at short term. long term investors a few only. BS pretend blind only ma. wakaka

No deal is bad news for Trump's political survival. Mid election in Nov 2018 will destroy trump's winning stake. China made a checkmate on moron trump. Kui lo want to play chess with china. who wins? wakaka

Our PM's visionary is very good one. pivot towards weakening US io/ East China. even Japan Abe has to approach Xi Jinping now for long term survival. what a great PM's vision? wakaka

Trump must be naive thinking that China Beijing can't live without US. China will shows its strong resilience without US who cant accept the painful fact that its no longer world economy, military power. As long as russia+China together, both will be a formidable force. So, Trump can only create nuisance but can't stop china's rising