First and foremost, thanks to the grace and divine because by the grace and bounty of Allah SWT I have completed my assignment on Road condition In Puncak Alam. I would like to thanks Dr. Azimah Binti Daud for giving me the opportunity to do this assignment which has enables me to open up my sense and to think scientifically. I would like to also thank Dr. Azimah for the guidance that she gave toward the completion of this assignment. I would like to also thank every individual who has helped me throughout finishing this assignment directly and also indirectly. Here I also want to thank my friend who alsy give me support and guidance toward me and also a companionship during the completion of this assignment.
I would like to take this opportunity to again thanks Dr. Azimah for giving us this assignment because it enable us to take things into different perspective not only in the conventional way or within the four walls of class. Thank you so much.
1. Introduction
In order for a country to have an efficient and reliable transport system, road is very vital in playing the role of connectivity accessibility and also providing mobility. Road can be define as the path that connecting from one point to others. It is can be artificial way which is paved, smooth and also natural way which is unpaved road. Prior to that, nowadays all the road is paved and rarely we can see unpaved road unless in rural area or in the villages. There are various types of road; there is highway which is mainly connecting two states, state road, elevated road, elevated highway, tunnel and many more types of road. Road is very important in order to connecting people. Without a proper road system, there is no civilisation
Road maintenances in Malaysia are mainly maintained by Public Work Department. However starting the mid-80s, there are many privatised company who construct the road and maintained the road, and in order for people to use the road, they have to pay tolls (Hamizan, 2009). Currently one of the largest concessions for highway is PLUS, who is under UEM Company.
If there is a good road system in the country but the condition of road is poor, it cannot be classified as a good road because there are many externalities that can be causes by poor road condition. Poor road condition here means that there are lack of maintenance of road, there is lack of infrastructure along the road, no proper signage, poor planning of road and many more.
A good road transport will affect not only in term of social life but also can affect the country economy (Hj Sufian & Zakaria, 2009), as we all know, transport is a derived demand, transport is a means to an end. Without transport it is hard for people to have a better quality life.
“Transport is civilisation.” – Sir Rudyard Kipling
Figure 1:
Show that the increment of road length year by year.
Table 1:
Show the responsibilities of authority in different road category
2. Overview of Puncak Alam’s Road
Puncak Alam is a town ship area located in Kuala Selangor, the district in Selangor Malaysia. Puncak Alam located 20km Northwest toward Shah Alam state capital of Selangor.Puncak Alam area before this a palm estate holding managed by FELDA and after that the development of Puncak Alam area start at the early 90s where at that time it is un Bukit Cherakah Development Sdn. Bhd. The road linkage to Puncak Alam area are from Shah Alam via Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari or also known as Shah Alam – Batu Arang Highway the North end of this road is at Jalan Meru, and the east end is at Jalan Subang – Batu Tiga. Another road linkages are from Puncak Alam area is accessible to Meru, Klang by Jalan Meru, B1 which linked Klang and Kuala Selangor. This road is a state road and there is several of public transport operators operate here for example Seranas bus, Rapid KL and so on. Puncak Alam is also lonked toward Kuala Lumpur by using the LATAR highway which connected with Jalan Kuala Selangor – Kepong.
In Puncak Alam area, it is a township so there is a lot of housing area that developed and developing in this area. With the new housing area are still under construction, when it finishes there will many people will choose to live and stay in Puncak Alam area. Puncak Alam area is a suburban area which is only 45 minutes to city centre. The current traffic for Puncak Alam Selangor is 42300 cars.
Puncak Alam area also a home for the new logistic park that located along the Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari. A good road connectivity is a must here in Puncak Alam area in order to ensure seamless supply chain activity of the logistic park involve. The company that opened up the logistic warehouses here are DB Shenker, LYL and many more. Other than logistic park, Puncak Alam also have industrial park where it located at Alam Jaya.
Puncak Alam is also home for the biggest campus of Universiti Teknolgi Mara (UiTM) Selangor, Puncak Alam campus which complied about 1,085.75 acre that make it the biggest campus that own by UiTM. This campus is under private funding initiative (PFI) which currently own by two major concessions TriPLC for first phase and also Johawaki that responsible for second phase. There is a plan to build UiTM hospital, so it will be opened in public thus it will make Puncak Alam area more developed. With that in hand, the road system and also connectivity of road must be sufficient and also very good in order for more people to come in Puncak Alam area.
Puncak Alam road is under state government road which currently maintained and construct by Selangor Public Works Department. The condition of road in Puncak Alam is still in unsatisfactory level where based on my observation, there is poor infrastructure where there is place where there is no road light, no proper signage indicating where the road lead to, poor maintenance of road where there is a lot of pothole all over the road that can cause defect on the vehicle and many more. Puncak Alam is once a ghost town where the people are not interested to live in Puncak Alam area. However after the completion of UiTM and also the increment of cost of living, people make Puncak Alam as a their choice to buy or rent a property. The development in Puncak Alam is currently very overwhelming with the rise of new housing area and also education institution.
3. Issues and factors of Road Condition in Puncak Alam
There are several issues of road condition, linkages that needed to point out that happened in Puncak Alam road. Puncak Alam is a developing township and it is important to have a seamless road connectivity and condition to ensure the higher productivity of all the people and also the company who are operates here on Puncak Alam.
3.1. Poor Road Condition
Every road in Puncak Alam is under state government, so it is under the responsibility of municipal of Kuala Selangor MDKS. All the road development is governed by MDKS. Puncak Alam road is under unsatisfactory level where there are many potholes and road defects. Road defects here mean that there is poor pavement of road so that the road is sinking after the it wear out. Road pavement is very important to ensure the sustainability of the road itself. Initially road normally use cobblestones and also granite setts but nowadays instead of that, road pavement used asphalt and also concreate so that the road are more durable and sustain. If the road are using poor pavement material, the road will not sustain.
The road in Puncak Alam is a state road so there are no tolls. In order for the lorry or prime mover and also high occupancy vehicle (HOV) to move from Kuala Lumpur to Klang or Shah Alam they should use highway for instance Federal Highway or NKVE highway. However, as a lorry driver, they know that they should transport the good within time given or less time to get the allowances, so instead of using a long way and proper way, they just use a state road which is cheaper and faster. The road is in poor condition is because of the road is not suitable for high occupancy vehicle, that is why the road are tend to wear out quickly even after re pavement. (Kordi, Endut, & Baharom, 2010)
3.2. Lack of Proper Facilities and Road Infrastructure
Road infrastructure is very important. Infrastructure here mean that the road light, road indicator light along the line, traffic light system, road divider, intersection and many more. In Puncak Alam area, all the infrastructures are wear out, since there is no proper maintenance. There is also no sufficient light at Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari, and also Kuala Selangor – Klang road. People are only dependent on the vehicle headlight. In Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari, the road lack of proper signanege for example wild animals signage, merging signage, slippery road and many more. The condition on that particular road is not in a good state where it have ‘S’ curve that are sometimes dangerous for driver and also the geographical condition factors which is the road is on the hills.
3.3. Flood
Due to the unplanned development, Puncak Alam prone to suffer from flash flood. This can cause Puncak Alam road to be closed and it caused many difficulties toward the resident and also people who travelled to Puncak Alam. Puncak Alam suffered this problem recently on the year 2015 where there is a nonstop rain and also because of the poor drainage system it flooded all over Puncak Alam. All the road that connect to Puncak Alam phase 2, Puncak Alam Phase 3, Shah Alam 2 is affected and people with low density vehicle cannot simply enter because it will damaged their vehicle so it will affect their daily life at that time. The flood last about 2 days and for student who reside at Puncak Alam phase 2 and 3 hardly to go to classes due to that unfortunate event at that time. The poor flood management also is one of the major issues at that time where people are clueless on what their do should at that time.
This event shows that when the main road of connectivity is closed, it will affect all the people and not only that it also affect the industrial and logistic park at Puncak Alam. How is the productivity of the people in order to go to work their need to face a long que to escape from the flood, surely it will affect their productivity at that time. This flood also cause the defect of infrastructure such as road light, road, the road under construction and many more.
Puncak Alam means Top of The Nature but ironically the geographical of this township is low and that is why it prone to flood. The poor development is one of the reason why Puncak Alam tend to flood. This is because there are no proper drainage systems for the new develop area. The geographical area also play a main role in this issue. The low geographical area may be one of the factors to the flash flood in Puncak Alam area.
3.4. Wild Animals
Puncak Alam road mainly at Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari is still green mean that the area has still not fully developed and all over the way there is jungle, mountain on the side of the way. It is not possible to come across wild animals like boar, tapirs, monkeys, wild lizards and many more. This is maybe the area that developed is used to be their habitat. That is why in some occurrence the driver saw this kind of wild animals crossing the road to go to another side.
Wild animals causes a lot of accident throughout the year, this happen when the driver are unaware of the animals that suddenly crossing the road at the middle at the night for example. Can we put all the blame at the animal for crossing the road suddenly? No. Animals are afraid of light so the animals will cross the road when there is dark. Why this problem happen this is because in certain area, state road for example there are insufficient road light. Road light is very important this is for the driver visibility at night, that is why when there is animal crossing the driver who drive fast couldn’t hit the brake fast enough.
4. Effects and Suggestion
The effects on road condition not only can be seen toward the society but also towrd the development of a country. Transport is a derived demand the demand for transport is not come from the transport itself but from other factors such as employment and education. For instance if our road condition is poor, like there is no proper linkages to city centre, there is no highway, how can we expect a foreign direct investment to happen in our country? In order for them to open up their business in our country, the road system must be up to their standard so that they can run their operation seamlessly.
Poor road condition can affect not only in term of social but also economically. In term of social, the people who use a defective road will for sure be stress out and when that happen the mentality of the person will drop and it will cost the work productivity to decrease. In term of their vehicle, when there are using the road every day, the chances of their car to be broke down is higher, for instance tyre problem absorber problem and fuel efficiency will also be affected by the poor road condition. For sure, poor road condition creates damage to the quality of life. Another example is, a logistic company who want to deliver the good at Puncak Alam area but the road is not in a good condition and causes the truck to tumble, in this situation it is may because of the negligence of the driver but the driver also might not expected to know about the road defect on that area. In this sample situation it is shown that, poor road condition are harmful and might causes accident. In term of economic perspective, in order for increase foreign direct investment activity in our country, our road system must be good so that foreign investor are willing to make an investment and open up their business in our country thus will increase our country income.
Accident can also be happening not only cause of the negligence but also because of the road condition. When people are unaware with the road condition, people might cause or involve in accident. In order to prevent accident, road must be maintained well, and also driver need to be aware of the road condition while driving and not over speeding. As mention, one of the factor of road defect is because the HOV are using state road recklessly and in order to solve road condition problem the regulator need to come up with a new set of rules that prevent or limit the HOV in state road. The regulation must be regulated and monitor at all time to ensure this problem did not happen again.
One of the measures that had been taken is the plan to build a new Damansara – Shah Alam Elevated highway that connect Puncak Alam to Shah Alam in no time. This project get may reaction from the resident which is many of resident in Puncak Alam are agree to this project and there are people who reside along the way of the suggested way are disagree since there will be a lot of social cost they need to bear after the completion of this highway. This highway will created more benefit rather than the damages, this is because it will surely lengthen up the connectivity of people in Puncak Alam area to Shah Alam area and it will take less than the normal time. There will also be good for the logistic park and also industrial park along Puncak Alam area. This will give them the chance to ensure their operation is seamless.
5. Conclusion
As for the conclusion, the road in Puncak Alam is still under development with there are many current constructions of road along the way. Puncak Alam areas are keep expanding with the new housing town, expansion of UiTM development of commercial area and many more. Puncak Alam someday I believe will be one of major sub urban township if all the development is doing right.
Road development in our country is currently on the right track, this is supported by between the year 2010 – 2015, there are 93,100 KM of new road added and increasing the total network by 68% according to the eleven Malaysia plan. (Malaysia, 2016) In term of the road development, Malaysia have no problem to have a good and sustain road transport since up until now the road in Malaysia are increasing year by year.
Right now, after the privatisation is introduced by former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, all the major highway and road are under private company. There are also many urban road that are developed by the private sector as BOT (G.Naidu, 2008)
In a nutshell, road in Malaysia is very well link and good however in order to maintained the road, it must be well monitor for such factor that can defect the road in Malaysia. The regulatory system also needed to be tighten up to enforce the rules.