JURUTE BuRlletin Bula Anan IJM - IEM

THE MONTHLY BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, MALAYSIA

KDN PP 1050/02/2005 ISSN 0126-9909 BIL.2005 N0.01 JANUARY 2005

Bulletin Bulanan IJM

JURUTERAJURUTERAKDN PP 1050/02/2005 ISSN 0126-9909 BIL.2005 N0.01 JANUARY 2005

THE MONTHLY BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, MALAYSIA

Oil and Gas Industry in Malaysia – An Overview

Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineering Consultants – Moving Forward

J U R U T E R A , J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 53

BULETIN IEMThe Institution and Dimension are not responsible for anystatements made or opinions expressed by the writers or

reporters in its publication.

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READER’S CONTRIBUTION INVITEDWe invite members and others to submit comments

and articles for publication in the Bulletin.

Please send your contribution to theChief Editor,The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia Bangunan Ingenieur, Lots 60 & 62,Jalan 52/4, Peti Surat 223 (Jalan Sultan),46720 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.Tel: 03-7968 4001/2E-mail: [email protected] Home Page: http://www.iem.org.my© 2005 The Institution of Engineers,Malaysia & Dimension Publishing Sdn. Bhd.

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PRESIDENT’S CORNERUniversity-Industry Interaction : A Forgone Conclusion? ................. 4

COVER STORYThe Malaysian Oil and Gas Industry : An Overview .......................... 8

FEATURESMalaysia as a Regional Hub for Oil and Gas Engineering Services ................................................................................. 14From Sailing The Sea to Surfing The Net .............................................. 18Mining and Quarrying in Malaysia : The Industry and Education ............................................................................................ 24The Blasting Dilemma............................................................................... 28

COMMENTIWRM : Empowering the Public ............................................................. 34Shaiky’s View ............................................................................................. 44

REPORTDoing the Ditty Down Under : Institute of Engineers Singapore 38th Annual Dinner & Dance ............................................... 38Report on Two Day Conference on Geotechnical Engineering Themed “Design & Construction of Pile Foundation : The Malaysian Experience” ..................................................................... 39A Visit to KL Monorail System ................................................................ 39Visit to Stepping Stones Homes .............................................................. 41IEM Sabah Branch : Blood Donation ...................................................... 42 Report on the GSM-IEM Forum : “The Role of Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering in Construction Works” ...... 44

BLUE PAGESMembership ............................................................................................... 1ANNOUNCEMENTIEM Training Centre Sdn Bhd ................................................................. 2IEM Diary .................................................................................................... 3IEM Branch Executive Committee 2004/2005 ...................................... 3Voting Papers for Council Election Session 2005/2006 ....................... 3Jurutera Wargamas Criteria ..................................................................... 4Guidelines for an Engineer Taking Over the Work of Another ........................................................................................ 4Route to be an Accredited Checkers ....................................................... 6APCChE Presidency now held by Malaysia, 2006 Congress to be hosted by KL .......................................................... 7REPORTFactory visit to Terasaki (M) Sdn Bhd .................................................... 8Visit to CSF Computer Exchange, Cyberjaya ........................................ 8

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J U R U T E R A , J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5 4

P R E S I D E N T ’ S C O R N E R

UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRYINTERACTION : A Forgone Conclusion?

By : Ir. Prof. Abang Abdullah bin Abang Ali, IEM President

As a young Dean of Engineeringin the early 80s, university-

industry interaction was myfavourite topic because I stronglybelieve the university and theindustry were inseparable twins inthe business of education andtraining of the country’s technicalhuman resource. Prior to this andalmost immediately after myappointment as a lecturer, I wasmyself spending 4 to 5 days a weekin industry as a design engineer inmy effort to gain the necessarypractical or professional experiencewhich is a necessary prerequisite tobuilding that important bridge tothe private sector. This was madepossible after proposing aprofessional training scheme forengineering lecturers to theuniversity council. As a dean I wasencouraging and indeed proddinglecturers to work hard towardsbuilding a good rapport with theindustry in order to expose them aswell as their students to the realitiesof the workplace.

Paper after paper have beenpresented and deliberated on inmajor national and internationalconferences and seminars on thisissue over the years implying thatthis is one issue which will not fade

away. There is also an annualnational level dialogue betweenuniversity leaders and captains ofindustry chaired by the Minister ofEducation (now, Higher Learning)on this issue. Unfortunately muchas we would like to see this closecooperation between universitiesand the industry to develop andafter some three decades of talking about it, it did not seem towork fully in Malaysia. Universitiesoften say that the industry is hardlyinterested and the industry on theother hand appear to consideruniversity lecturers and studentstoo academic to be of any good totheir business.

With the recent renewedemphasis on research anddevelopment (R&D) in Malaysianuniversities, given the largeramount of R&D funds madeavailable through the Intensificationof Research in Priority Areas (IRPA) programme, involvement in the industry has gone further to the back burners. The latest craze in the universities is forjournal papers, R&D achievementmedals and patents at the expenseof the highly elusive university-industry interaction.

It is as if we are unable to excel in both. And yet in more established universities abroad,lecturers are successful researchersand are also able to stand tallamongst professional engineeringpractitioners. They publish in ordernot to perish in the university but atthe same time are respected leadersin their professional institutions.They have journal papers as well as major design achievements in practice.

Striking a balance betweenacademic and professional excell-ence would not be too difficult ifthere is close cooperation betweenuniversities and the industry.Universities must through theiractive involvement in R&D be ableto offer new knowledge andtechnology to the industry and theindustry must be willing to comeforward to support teaching andR&D activities in the universitiesthrough endowments, chairs andgrants. Cooperation in innovationand commercialisation activities is asure way forward. But then theremust be political will to make allthese happen. n

We wish all IEM Members and Readers a

HAPPY & PROSPEROUSCHINESE NEW YEAR


MALAYSIANENGINEERS AND THEOIL & GAS INDUSTRY

Number 1 January 2005IEM Registered on 1st May 1959

Thirty years ago the Malaysian Parliament passed thePetroleum Development Act (1974) and laid down

the groundwork for the development of the oil & gasindustry in the country. Since then the industry hasdeveloped to become one of our most importanteconomic sectors. It is also a sector which has takenadvantage of the most demanding, challenging andexciting engineering and technological advances andtherefore should be of great interest to engineers.

The country’s oil & gas industry has developed frommere production of crude for export to value-addeddownstream production of commodity and engineeringplastics, petrochemicals and fertilizers. Local engineershave numerous opportunities to contribute to thevarious facets of the industry, from front-end engineeringdesign of oil production facilities to the design andconstruction of chemical plants.

Despite these opportunities many of the localengineering positions are still occupied by expatriates.There are still relatively few truly-local companies (andindividual engineering specialists) which are directlyinvolved in areas like front-end conceptual and processengineering design. Fortunately, the number is steadilyincreasing especially in detail design and management ofthe construction of offshore oil & gas platforms andpetrochemical plants. In some of these areas Malaysianengineers have also successfully lend their expertise (asexpatriates) in other countries.

Perhaps the time has now arrived for IEM to addressthis issue directly and get into dialogues with oilcompanies like Petronas, Exxon-Mobil, Shell andMurphy Oil in order to increase the awareness of oil &gas opportunities amongst local engineers. The mainobjectives of such dialogues would be to promote theservices of Malaysian engineers and identify areas wherethe Institution can play a role in enhancing andcomplementing the local oil & gas industry.

The oil & gas industry is multidisciplinary in nature. The input and contribution of every discipline of engineering have significant roles to play in the industry.Due to its unique requirements, the industry hasdeveloped standards and practices almost at par with thehigh standards of requirements in aeronautics. Many ofthese standards and practices such as the selection ofmaterials and safety management will probably findtheir way into the general construction industry as thelatter tries to meet the ever demanding publicexpectations. The same applies to quality assurance andcontrol in construction, non-destructive testing,corrosion and welding practices – to name just a few. n

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, MALAYSIABangunan Ingenieur, Lots 60 & 62, Jalan 52/4, P.O. Box 223,

(Jalan Sultan) 46720 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.Tel: 03-7968 4001/4002 Fax: 03-7957 7678

E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: http://www.iem.org.my

MAJLIS BAGI SESI 2004/2005 (IEM COUNCIL SESSION)YANG DIPERTUA / PRESIDENT:Ir. Prof. Abang Abdullah bin Abang Ali

TIMBALAN YANG DIPERTUA / DEPUTY PRESIDENT:Ir. Prof. Dr Ow Chee Sheng

NAIB YANG DIPERTUA / VICE PRESIDENTS:Ir. P.E. Chong, Ir. Vincent Chen Kim Kieong, Ir. Chee Meng Sang, Ir. Mohd Aman bin HjIdris, Ir. Choo Kok Beng, Ir. Neoh Cheng Aik, Ir. Prof. Ishak bin Abdul Rahman

SETIAUSAHA KEHORMAT / HON. SECRETARY:Ir. Oon Chee Kheng

BENDAHARI KEHORMAT / HON. TREASURER:Ir. M.C. Hee

WAKIL STRUKTUR / STRUCTURAL REPRESENTATIVE: Ir. David Ng Shiu Yuen

WAKIL AWAM / CIVIL REPRESENTATIVE: Ir. Gunasagaran a/l Krishnan

WAKIL ELEKTRIK / ELECTRICAL REPRESENTATIVE:Ir. Dr Muhammad Fuad bin Abdullah

WAKIL MEKANIK / MECHANICAL REPRESENTATIVE:Ir. Loh Lim Huat

WAKIL KIMIA & DISIPLIN LAIN / CHEMICAL & OTHERS REPRESENTATIVE: Ir. Ahmad Nordeen bin Mohd. Salleh

COUNCIL MEMBERS:Ir. Dr Ahmad Suhaimi bin Abd Rahim, Ir. Prof. Madya Dr Ibrahim bin Kamaruddin,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Megat Johari bin Megat Mohd. Noor, Ir. Hj. Mohamad Ali bin Yusoff,Ir. Bahardin bin Baharom, Ir. Prof. Dr Chuah Hean Teik, Ir. Dr Wong Chin Chaw,Ir. Lee Weng Onn, Ir. Prof. Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir, Ir. Chin Mee Poon,Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj Abdul Rashid bin Maidin, Ir. Tan Yean Chin, Ir. Peter Tan Hoh You,Ir. Kukanesan a/l Sakthiveil, Ir. Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohd Zamin bin Jumaat,Ir. Prof. Dr Amir Hashim bin Mohd Kassim, Ir. Dr Mohd Yusof bin Abdul Rahman,Ir. Adnan bin Zulkiple, Ir. David Lai Kong Phooi, Ir. Manogaran a/l K. Raman,Ir. Hj Mohd Hassin @ Mohd Hashim bin Daud, Ir. Mohd Nizar bin Hassan,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Lt. Kol. Mohd Hazani bin Hj Shafie, Ir Mohd Rasid bin Osman,Ir. Prof. Dr Ruslan bin Hassan, Ir. Woo Ah Keong, Ir. Yeo Boon Kah, Ir. Yusouf binAhmad,Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Mohd Radzi bin Mansor, Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Datuk Dr Ahmad Tajuddin bin Ali, Y. Bhg. Datuk Abdul Hadi bin Mohd Deros

BEKAS YANG DIPERTUA TERAKHIR / IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Ir. Dr Gue See Sew

BEKAS YANG DIPERTUA / PAST PRESIDENT:Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Ir. (Dr) J. G. Daniel, Ir. Chiam Teong Tee, Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Pang Leong Hoon,Y. Bhg. Academician Dato’ Ir. Lee Yee Cheong, Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Abdul Rashid bin Ahmad,Ir. Dr Ting Wen Hui, Ir. Hj Mohd Mazlan, Y. Bhg. Datuk Ir. (Dr) Hj. Ahmad Zaidee Laidin

WAKIL CAWANGAN / BRANCH REPRESENTATIVES:Pulau Pinang - Ir. Vincent Tan Huei MengSelatan - Ir. Steve Chong Yoon OnPerak - Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdul Rahman bin DahanTimur - Ir. Hj. Annies bin Md AriffTerengganu - Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Mohamad bin HusinNegeri Sembilan - Ir. Hj. Jamil bin IbrahimMelaka - Ir. Hj. Abd Rahim bin ShamsudinSarawak - Y. Bhg. Datu Ir. Hubert Thian Chong HuiSabah - Ir. Lee Tet FonMiri - Ir. Dr Edwin Jong Nyon TchanKedah-Perlis - Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdullah bin Hj. Abbas

LEMBAGA PENGARANG / EDITORIAL BOARD:Ketua Pengarang / Chief Editor – Ir. Assoc. Prof. Megat Johari bin Megat Mohd. NoorPengarang (Bulletin) / Bulletin Editor – Sdr. K.H. ManPengarang (Jurnal) / Journal Editor – Ir. Mohd. Rasid bin OsmanSetiausaha / Secretary – Ir. Mohd. Khir bin MuhammadAhli-Ahli / Committee Member – Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdul Rashid bin Maidin,Prof. Dr Asbi bin Ali, Dr Chuah Teong Guan, Assoc. Prof. Dr Deepak Kumar Ghodgaonkar

AHLI JAWATANKUASA PENERBITAN / STANDING COMMITTEE ONPUBLICATIONS:Pengerusi / Chairman: Ir. Chee Meng SangNaib Pengerusi / Vice Chairman: Ir. Prof. Dr Ruslan bin HassanSetiausaha / Secretary: Ir. Mohd. Khir bin MuhammadPengerusi (Perpustakaan) / Library Chairman: Dr Chuah Teong GuanAhli-Ahli / Committee Member: Ir. Chin Mee Poon, Ir. Mohd. Nizar bin Hassan,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohd. Zamin bin Jumaat, Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdul Rashid bin Maidin,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Dr Amir Hashim bin Mohd. Kassim, Ir. Lim Eng Hwa, Ir. Low Ah Peng,Ir. Loh Lim Huat, Ir. Mah Soo, Ir. Look Keman bin Hj. Sahari, Ir. Assoc. Prof. Megat Joharibin Megat Mohd. Noor, Ir. Mohd. Rasid bin Osman, Sdr. K.H. Man, Prof. Dr Asbi bin Ali,Sdr. Karthigesu Muniyandi.

By : Ir. Dr Samad bin Solbai,Chairman, Oil, Gas & Mining Technical Division

E D I T O R I A L

JURUTERA


IntroductionThe Oil & Gas (O&G) industry hasseen no small amount of attentionduring recent months. One itemattracting attention is crude pricesrising above USD50 per barrel(0.159m3) and the simultaneous riseof petrol prices due to reduction ingovernment subsidies. News ofdiscoveries of new potentiallyproducing fields has increasedinterest in O&G related stocks,whether in suppliers to the industryor oil refineries. To encourage andmaintain this level of interest, IEMheld a symposium in July 2004,attempting to put forward a forumwhere people outside the O&Gindustry could be exposed to issueswithin the industry. As a follow-up,this article attempts to present abasic picture of the oil and gasindustry in Malaysia.

History of ProductionSharing ContractsPetroleum exploration in Malaysiastarted at the beginning of the 20thcentury in Sarawak, where oil wasfirst discovered in 1909 and first produced in 1910. Prior to 1975, petroleum concessions weregranted by state governments,where oil companies have exclusiverights to explore and produceresources. The companies then paid royalties and taxes to thegovernment. This state of affairsceased on April 1, 1975 as a result ofthe Petroleum Development Act,whereby PETRONAS became thecustodian of petroleum resourceswith rights to explore and produceresources. The national oil company

retains ownership and managementcontrol in exploration, developmentand production of oil resources.Expenditure and profits aremanaged under instruments calledProduction Sharing Contracts(PSCs). The Production SharingContractor assumes all risks and

sources all funds for all petroleumoperations. The Contractor receivesan entitlement through production.Each PSC may have different terms and conditions. For example,different time periods are allowedfor exploration of acreage, deve-loping and installing infrastructure

THE MALAYSIAN OIL AND GASINDUSTRY : An Overview

By : Ir. Razmahwata bin Mohamad Razalli

Figure 2 : Historical Crude Oil Production (bbls : barrels per day. SB : Sabah contribution.SK : Sarawak Contribution, PM : Peninsular contribution.)

Figure 1 : Production Sharing Contractor Entitlement

C O V E R S T O R Y


to produce any hydrocarbonsdiscovered, and the actualproduction period.

Malaysia has the 25th largest oilreserves and the 14th largest gasreserves in the world. The totalreserves is of the order of 18.82billion barrels oil equivalent (boe),with a crude production rate of 600thousand barrels per day. Theaverage natural gas productionstands at approximately 5.7 billionstandard cubic feet per day.

Malaysia has 494,183km2 ofacreage available for oil and gas exploration, with 337,167km2 inthe offshore continental shelf area,and 63,968km2 in deepwater. Theacreage is split into 54 blocks, out ofwhich 28 (a total of 205,500km2) arecurrently operated by PetronasCarigali Sdn. Bhd. plus seven othermultinational oil companies.

Industry PlayersAmong the PSC Contractorsoperating in Malaysia are PetronasCarigali (PETRONAS’s operationscompany), ExxonMobil Explorationand Production (Malaysia) Inc(EMEPMI), Nippon Oil, SarawakShell, Murphey Oil and AmaradaHess. These companies are involvedin upstream operations, which isgenerally understood to mean

all O&G activities taking place prior to processing and refining of hydrocarbons. Among theactivities would be:• Exploration: analysing and

interpreting seismic data todetermine the potential ofhydrocarbon reserves; drilling oftest wells.

• Conceptual development: per-forming screening studies todetermine the most efficient andcost effective method to producepotential hydrocarbon sources.This would include selection of facilities (floating or moored structures), transport of hydrocarbon from field to customer (pipeline, floatingstorage and offloading (FSO)vessels), corrosion mitigationstrategies, and safety aspects ofthe operations.

• Development: project mana-gement of construction, detailedengineering, optimum welllocation, transport of facilities to location and commissioning of facilities.

• Production: maintenance stra-tegies, planning budgets, analysisof supply and demand, andretrofit work to maintain or meetnew production targets.

The O&G industry is involved indownstream activities as well. Here,‘downstream’ means processestaking place after oil has beentransported from the reservoir, andinto crude oil terminals. Investmentopportunities include processingand refining of the crude,petrochemical plants, logistics andretail transactions. Downstream hasdifferent players, and a morediverse range of interests. In oil refining, there are PetronasPenapisan (with plants inTerengganu and Melaka), Shell,ExxonMobil and Conoco. PetronasGas and MLNG are involved in gasprocessing and transmission. Gasdistribution is handled by GasMalaysia. The retail arm has many interests, including PetronasDagangan, Shell, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips (under theProjet brand). Petrochemicals have the most diverse range of companies, including Optimal,BASF, BP, Amoco and Idemitsu.

Challenges in theUpstreamThe Malay Basin is a relativelymature location, with well-knownhydrocarbon reserves. Therefore, alot of work is in progress to increase current production by improving the amount ofhydrocarbon recovered fromexisting sources and by finding newreservoirs in areas that have been previously overlooked. Newexploration and interpretation ofdata in currently producing regionshave resulted in new finds. One findis the Sumandak Complex, whereoil is being found in regionspreviously thought to be devoid of hydrocarbons.

In addition to exploring oldareas, new fields are being sought.One upcoming production area is inwhat is known as deep waters(water depth more than 1000ft or

Figure 3: Historical Natural Gas Production

C O V E R S T O R Y


300m.) To produce the hydrocarbonresources found in these areas,technology new to Malaysia arerequired. This technology wouldcover aspects such as the ability todrill wells in deep waters, and theability to analyse and install seabottom facilities to deliver thehydrocarbon to the topside facilitiesat sea level. On the operational side,Malaysia would need to develop asupport base that can handle thechallenges of maintaining deepwater facilities at a competitive cost within reasonable turnaroundtimes. An example of a recentdevelopment is Kikeh, which has awater depth of 1,300m (4,000 ft),whereas reservoirs developed todate have been in waters typically60m (200 ft) deep.

One example of change in theMalaysian production strategy islooking towards producing gasfields that have contaminant gasesthat would affect the metallurgy ofthe production facilities. Amongthese gases are carbon dioxide (CO2)and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Asthese gases are unsaleable, and maycause corrosion in piping, fields with a high percentage of these gases were originally notdeemed commercially attractive, asinfrastructure has to be put in placeto remove the gases from thehydrocarbons before being sent toonshore terminals. Currently, with alarger demand for gas and newtechnologies, these fields havebecome financially attractive.Examples of fields with high CO2

content are Bunga Raya (PeninsularMalaysia), and Chakerawala (Joint Development Area betweenThailand and Malaysia.)

There is also an opportunity toincrease production by rejuvenation(see Figure 4) of existing productionfacilities. This concept can beapplied both to topside andsubsurface facilities. As an example,

more than 50% of Malaysian assetshave been producing for longerthan 15 years. There are definiteopportunities to debottleneckfacilities, looking at design andcurrent operating conditions, andmaximising the use of existingequipment. New technologies maybe retrofitted into existingequipment, increasing capacity at anacceptable cost.

Engineering ContributionsIn all of the above, engineers play animportant role in the developmentof O&G resources. They areinvolved in a whole slew of areas,from conceptual or front endengineering design (FEED), todetailed engineering, procurementservices, construction managementservices, and special studies. Themain bodies of engineers involvedin O&G upstream work reside in five engineering companies licensed by Petronas as UmbrellaDesign Contractors (UDCs):Technip, Ranhill Worley, MMC,Kvaener Petrominco and SimeEngineering. When required,specialist companies are enlisted to participate in special studies, for example subsea facilities, blast analysis, dynamic simulationand flow assurance. Among such

companies present in Malaysia are JP Kenny, ERM, Trident, DNVand IGL.

Engineers play an important role in the construction of O&Gfacilities. OSFAM (OffshoreStructure Fabricators Association of Malaysia) is an organisationdedicated to the advancement ofMalaysian fabrication facilities. Its members, compromising ofBrooke Dockyard and EngineeringWorks Corporation, PenangShipbuilding and Construction Sdn.Bhd., H. L. Engineering, RamuniaFabricators, Malaysia Shipyard andEngineering, and Sime SembcorpEngineering Sdn. Bhd., aspire to make OSFAM a fabrication hub, and establish themselves asEngineering, Procurement andConstruction (EPC) contractors.OSFAM members plan a stepchange in their fabrication yardcapacity, but this is dependent on anumber of factors. More jobs arerequired to support and justify the investment and the need toincrease the members’ ability andexpertise to undertake Engineering,Procurement, Construction andCommission (EPCC) and technicallyadvanced projects. To achieve andmaintain these aims, there is a need

Figure 4: Increased production through rejuvenation

C O V E R S T O R Y


for more skilled resources in theO&G construction industry. Forexample, the industry is always onthe lookout for project managementand planning engineers up to thechallenge of working within theO&G business environment. This can be seen as being differentfrom the construction sector, as project timing and budgets aremore critical when dealing withhydrocarbon facilities.

To further the interests ofMalaysian engineering, Mogec(Malaysian Oil and Gas EngineeringContractors) was formed in 2001. Itcomprises of the UDC companiesplus other consultant firms. Amongits objectives are to provide a forumfor discussion on issues of commoninterest, to promote cooperationbetween members and to promotethe use and development of localresources in the Oil, Gas andPetrochemical industry.

An example of how engineersplay important roles at all levels of modernising and improvingengineering processes can be seen in one multinational’s innovativeapproaches in developing marginal

fields. Historically, offshoredevelopments have been structuredaround large gas and oil fields,which were produced throughmanned facilities. Locations whichwere further away were producedvia unmanned facilities (satelliteplatforms) that were large and had numerous utilities on-board, of which examples are aircompressors and air dryers, activefire suppression systems, andgenerators that run on liquid fuel.These projects usually had longproject cycles from conception tocommissioning, typically along thelines of 36 months. In addition, thecosts then associated with thecapital and operational expendituredid not make good economics whendeveloping small fields.

A number of innovations toincrease the economic viability ofthe program have been done.Among them is a step change indeciding the minimal acceptablefacilities installed on-board a platform. To maximise economiesof scale, similar components aresimultaneously fabricated, anddrilling and installation programs

have been combined. To maintaincontinuity and leverage on lessons learnt, a single projectmanagement team is established formultiple developments.

Local CompaniesThe growth of the Malaysian Oil &Gas industry has spawned a wholesupport industry, providing servicesand products to operators. Localcontractors and suppliers who wishto do business with PETRONAS are first required to register with its Licensing and RegistrationDepartment. This has encouragedthe growth of Malaysian-ownedbusinesses, and opened upopportunities to expand outsidenational borders.

One company is Trenergy FPSO Sdn. Bhd., a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Trenergy (Malaysia)Bhd. It was established to spearheadTrenergy’s foray into the upstreamoil and gas sector. A 9-year leasingcontract with Petronas Carigali sawthe emergence of FPSO Perintis,which started production in May1999 in the MASA oilfield situatedabout 155 kilometers offshore fromTerengganu, Malaysia.

The O&G industry has alsospawned industrial sites that came about due to their strategicpositions with respect to rawproducts. The sleepy town of Kertih, Terengganu, has beenmodernised due to the presence ofthe Kerteh Petrochemical Complex.Offshore Peninsular oil and gas are

C O V E R S T O R Y


collected at the TerengganuCrude Oil Terminal (TCOT)and Onshore Gas Terminal(OGT), respectively. Thehydrocarbons are pro-cessed by the local Petronasrefinery, and Petronas Gasplants, which in turnsupply the raw material toplants such as Optimal and Polyethylene Malaysia,which are also located on-site. This congregationof high-tech and non-localworkforce help in deve-loping local commerce andsocial activities.

CommunityRelationsOne must not forget thatthe O&G companiesoperating in Malaysiawould also like to be seenas responsible corporatecitizens. To this end,various companies havespent time and effort in giving something back to the community.PETRONAS offers scholar-ships to deserving studentsto further their education,both locally or abroad, via its own EducationalSponsorship Programme.At Zoo Negara, PETRO-NAS sponsors a sectioncalled “Children's World”,offering families visitingthe national zoo a wholenew experience of inter-acting with animals andunderstanding some oftheir peculiar behaviours.

Ranhill Berhad hadpledged its support ofRM50,000 to Malaysia’s2004 Olympic Team.According to the late Datuk

Zahari Ab. Wahab, DeputyChief Executive, “As acaring corporate citizen,Ranhill will continuouslylend its support to ourMalaysian athletes in theglobal arena. This is oneway to show our athletesthat they have our supportand encouragement tostrive for the best at theOlympics.” In addition,Ranhill has adopted a blood donation campaignas an annual companyevent, and holds an annual“Majlis Berbuka Puasa” for Orphaned Children inconjunction with the holymonth of Ramadan.

ClosingIt is hoped that this articlehas renewed interest in theoil and gas industry. Thereare sound reasons forMalaysia to be optimisticabout O&G opportunities in the foreseeable future.There are organisations inplace to promote andencourage the growth of Malaysian talent andexpertise to involve them-selves in this field.However, the basics of the industry must becorrectly understood andappreciated to extract the maximum amount of benefit.

The writer gratefullyacknowledges the variouscompanies who have made available informationin the public domain, via press releases, publicpresentations and web site publications. n

C O V E R S T O R Y


F E A T U R E

The Association of Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineering

Consultants (MOGEC) may not beknown to the lay person in Malaysiabut in the Oil and Gas industry, it isstarting to create waves indeveloping Malaysia to be aregional hub for engineeringservices for the oil and gas industry.This involves providing engineeringservices from front end engineeringdesign (FEED) right up to de-commissioning and covering bothupstream and downstream sectors.

According to Ir. Mohd SuhaimiBaharuddin, MOGEC’s president,Malaysia has the potential ofproviding engineering services for the Oil and Gas industry to the Asean region. The servicesinclude engineering design services,project management, constructionsupervision, quality assurance and control, contracting andprocurement.

“If there is a project in the regionor even worldwide, Malaysian Oiland Gas engineers can do theengineering design in Malaysia asour Oil and Gas engineeringservices are competitively pricedand our standards are up to parwith foreign Oil and Gasengineers,” he said.

Baharuddin, who is also theDirector and Senior Vice Presidentof Technip Consultant (M) Sdn.Bhd., a founding member ofMOGEC, said that in terms of cost,engineering services for the oil andgas industry in Malaysia arerelatively cheap in comparison toour European and Americancounterparts.

“We are somewhere in themiddle in terms of cost,” he saidadding that currently India benefitsfrom a large in-flow of revenue and technology as it providescompetitively priced oil and gasengineering services to the region.

Although there are few lowercost centres in this region, the international clients still prefer Malaysia due to its highquality engineering produced andavailability of up to date technologyknowledge. (See Figure 1)

“When we win a job, say inIndonesia, we will try as much as possible to do theengineering services here inMalaysia. Once we design that particular plant inMalaysia, we use the designand commence construction inthe client’s country,” he saidadding that in some cases thiswas not so straightforward asthe government in a givencountry would want theirlocal engineers involved in theengineering. In such a casewhere possible, the work issplit; some work is done inMalaysia whilst the remainderis done in the respectivecountry of the client.

“If we develop theengineering expertise here,

then we can also create a hub here to support the region. For instance,we can have offices offeringengineering services in Jakarta but itwill not be an expert in all fields. We can have experts here

Figure 1

MALAYSIA AS A REGIONAL HUB FOR OIL AND GAS ENGINEERING SERVICES

By : R.G. Candiah


in Malaysia to support and giveexpertise to that country,” he added.

Development of the Oil and GasEngineering Services IndustryThe Oil and Gas industry can besplit into upstream and downstreamsectors. The upstream sectorincludes the exploration and theextraction of crude oil.

In the Malaysian Oil and Gassector, it has been the upstreamsector that has traditionally been developed. The PetroleumDevelopment Act 1974 governs theupstream and the downstreamsectors of the petroleum industryunder which Petronas is party of.Petronas has a licensing system. Allwork which is contracted out in theupstream sector is through licensedcontractors. One of the objectives ofthe Act was to make sure localplayers were involved. One of therequirements to obtain a licence isbeing a local company.

It is because of this that the oiland gas engineering industry wasfully developed by the mid 80s.From the mid 80s to late 80s, allengineering design work had to bedone locally.

According to Ir. Dr TorkilGanendra, Secretary of MOGEC andDirector of Aker Kvaerner AsiaPacific, the Oil and Gas industry inMalaysia is a regulated industry,thus all upstream engineering

works have to be performed locallyif there was local technicalcapability. Some specialised areasare done overseas.

The Umbrella Contract (FrameAgreement) system was introducedin the mid 80s and it becamemandatory for all design work(where possible) to be performedlocally by Petronas licensedcontractors.

“This forced the localengineering services industry forOil and Gas to develop,” he said.The main clients of MOGECmembers include Petronas Carigali,the operating arm of Petronas,ExxonMobil, Shell, Talisman,Murphy Oil, etc.

According to Baharuddin, the government regulation andPetroleum Development Act 1974 involving local engineeringcompanies was very beneficial to the Malaysian Oil and Gasengineers. “If there was no suchregulation, a lot of work would havebeen done overseas,” he said

“This is understandable as thepetroleum companies are mainlyforeign,” he said. “For upstreamactivities, we are able to perform asour local engineers have gonethrough the learning curve,” he saidadding that local engineeringcompanies also do have ties withoverseas engineering companies toobtain knowledge and benefit from

technology transfer. The Oil andGas industry is a high tech industryand many engineering servicescompanies here have overseas linksas there are many specialised areasin the oil and gas industry.

Baharuddin said his company,Technip, is a regional headquartersfor the Asia Pacific region. “We giveengineering support to the wholearea. If a given office in the regiongets a project in the respectivecountry, if the expertise is notavailable in the given country,Malaysia will be able to give themsupport by doing the project here inMalaysia and transferring thetechnology back to the respectivecountry,’’ he said.

“We do the job here usingMalaysian engineers who in turnwill benefit from on-the-jobtraining. They go through alearning curve, learning fromvarious problems and all theseexperiences are kept in the country.If foreign engineers are used, theexperience they gain will be kept inthe foreign country. In addition,foreign exchange flows out ofMalaysia as foreign currency is usedin the Oil and Gas sector,” he added.“If we keep our experiences fromprojects done here, then we have astrong expertise base and this willenable us to export our services andexpertise further,” he added.

Baharuddin added thatMalaysian Oil and Gas engineeringcompanies are big enough to doturnkey projects, i.e. from scratch tothe handing over of the plant to the

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owner (client). “There are a lot ofjobs around the world especially theAsia Pacific region, especiallyChina,” he said adding that therewas a lot of room to export ourengineering services.

Besides Technip and AkerKvaerner Asia Pacific, the otherfounding members of MOGECinclude MMC Oil & Gas Sdn. Bhd.,Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd. andPerunding Ranhill Worley Sdn. Bhd.

ConstraintsGanendra highlighted severalconstraints in making Malaysia anengineering hub for oil and gas.Many engineering consultant firmsare small and this would pose as ahindrance in obtaining contracts.

“The owners/clients need acertain level of comfort and want tosee the engineering company beingfinancially stable,” he said assuringthat many MOGEC members werehowever big players and this shouldnot pose a problem.

Ganendra added that the mainconstraint was the fact that therewas a lack of local engineers whohave 3 to 10 years well roundedexperiences in the oil and gasindustry and in particular 4 to 5years experience.

“When local oil companies getengineering services firms to dojobs, they are very specific on who isworking on their job and theyactually approve each and everyindividual engineer position. Theywould not approve a graduateengineer with no experience towork on a project. Thus the entrylevel for graduates into the industryis difficult because the clients havespecific requirements. They don’tallow the flexibility of having acertain number of graduates on thejob,” he added.

He said when companies givethe project, the tender specifies thatthe categories of engineers that can

work on a given project must have a certain number of years of experience.

“We are currently working anddiscussing with the clients on thismatter. We are looking into makinga requirement that for all projectscarried out, a certain number ofgraduates get training. This is themain reason why there is a shortageof engineers in oil and gas,” he said.

Ganendra said Malaysia had abig market to tap into as MalaysianOil and Gas engineers were highlyregarded by local and foreign oilcompanies. He added that althoughMalaysia was not as cheap as India,it had several advantages: – Oil and Gas resources local and

regional– Established engineering industry – Petronas is a global player– Good infrastructure, low

operating cost base, politicallystable – attractive for foreigncompanies to set up base

– Quality and technologyknowledge

“We are centrally located to

springboard to Asean countries.

With the advancement of Infor-

mation Technology (IT), location

becomes less critical. Work can be

done here for the Middle East for

instance,” he added. n

Figure 2

Figure 3

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Iwas on the way back to Kajangfrom Melaka by the coastal road

one day and I decided to pull to thebeach for a rest. With me were mywife and a friend from China.Without realising it we got into thegarden of the Royal Port DicksonYacht Club and, you know what, Ibumped into my old friend Ir. AwKong Koy, better known as KK Awto his IEM friends.

KK was my classmate in theEngineering Faculty of theUniversity of Malaya. He gra-duated with a first class honoursdegree in mechanical engineering in1973. He soon became deeplyinterested in the new field ofinformation technology and in 1988he set up his own practice toconcentrate on the development ofcomputer software. He is of courseno stranger to IEM, having servedas a council member as well as amember of several standingcommittees. He was the foundingchairman of the IT Special InterestGroup and is still actively involvedin it.

Having hailed from Sitiawan, acoastal town in Perak, KKdeveloped an early interest in thesea and he wanted to have his ownboat. He wanted to build onehimself. He managed to obtain theplan of a dinghy from the BritishCouncil library in Kuala Lumpurand spent 9 months buildinghimself a wooden dinghy. He soonlearned to sail and became very good at it. In fact he was so good that he became thePresident of the Perak Yacht Club in Lumut in 1979, just 4-5 years after he became a member of theClub. KK won many prizes in local sailing competitions and was once the national champion. He

represented the country inmany international sailingcompetitions too.

I did not know aboutthis until I bumped intoKK in Port Dickson thatday. It is a pity that eventhough we have knowneach other for more than30 years, I only got toknow about his interestinghobby by accident.

For almost 30 years KKhas pursued his hobbywith zest and dedication.When he left Lumut towork in the Klang Valley in1981, he became a memberof the Royal Port DicksonYacht Club. He has beenone of the Club’s mostactive sailing memberssince. In fact he has been amember of the Club’ssailing sub-committee formore than 20 years, almostcontinuously.

Founded in 1927, theRoyal Port Dickson Yacht Club wasoriginally known as the PortDickson Club. In 1958, it became thePort Dickson Club & Yacht Club. In1988 it was known as the PortDickson Yacht Club. It adopted itspresent name in 1991. It has morethan a thousand members and itsfacilities include a bar, billiards,darts, tennis, squash, gymnasium,swimming pool, restaurants and anaccommodation of 7 rooms. TheClub is a member of the MalaysianYachting Association based in PortKlang, and KK was once a councilmember of M.Y.A.

With the completion of theSeremban-Port Dickson Highwayseveral years ago, driving fromKuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya toPort Dickson has become a breeze

and it takes only slightly more thanan hour to get there. KK drives tothe Royal Port Dickson Yacht Clubevery Sunday morning (well,almost) to enjoy his hobby, eventhough his wife and 2 childrensomehow do not share his interest.His present fibreglass Laser-classdinghy is his third boat, and he has been keeping it for more than 15 years.

Once a keen Hash House Harrierwho had participated in many runsin different parts of the country, KKhas stopped running since heinjured his knee. He nowconcentrates on only one sport. Ashe also has stopped participating incompetitive sailing, he contributeshis knowledge and experience in the

FROM SAILING THE SEA TOSURFING THE NETBy : Ir. Chin Mee Poon, Standing Committee on Publications

Sailing in the high sea

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sport by acting as officials inregattas and coaching new sailors.

Even though sailing wasintroduced to our country back inthe colonial days, its developmenthas lagged far behind many othersports. KK, however, sees the sportgaining popularity among youngpeople, and he is certainly preparedto contribute his time and energy tohelp in its development.

The “Optimist” regatta of Sukma’04 was held in Port Dickson. ThePort Dickson Open Regatta, whichattracted more than a hundred boatsfrom Singapore, Indonesia andAustralia in addition to localparticipants, was concludedrecently on 28.11.2004.

The America’s Cup InternationalSailing Competition attractsworldwide attention, but it is adevelopment kind of competitionwhere the competitors can designtheir own yachts as long as they arewithin the rules. Nevertheless theinterest generated will definitelyhelp in the development of thesport. At the last competition in

New Zealand, sailing fans couldfollow the races real time using the“Virtual Spectator” software. Theycould view the relative positions ofthe yachts on the course, the windstrength, their sailing angles andvelocity, and much more. Theinstruments on the yachts could alsobe viewed and compared.Technological advancements likethis will certainly spur furtherdevelopments in the sport.

“Have sail will travel,” said KK.He reminisced that in his youngerdays he used to represent thecountry in regional competitions.Nowadays the youngstersrepresenting the country have muchbroader scope for travel. They havethe opportunity to travel to somefar-flung corner of the world forcompetition. For example, 6 boysand girls represented Malaysia inthe regatta in Myanmar on 12–18December 2004.

Is sailing an expensive sport? KKgave a definitive No in his answer. A

Laser-class (one of the Olympicclasses) dinghy costs aboutRM15,000. With proper care, thedinghy will last for years and years.His own dinghy has been givinghim faithful service for more than 15years. About the only recurring costis the cost of replacing the sail onceevery two to three years at aboutRM2,000. The other costs areincidental: getting to the yacht club,food, etc.

The youngest boy or girl allowedto take up the sport is 8 years old.This minimum age is imposedbecause the boy or girl will be aloneout in the sea when sailing and it isimperative that he or she is able tocommunicate with the instructor orfriends. There is, however, no upperage limit. Among the active sailingmembers of the Royal Port DicksonYacht Club is a gentleman 78 yearsold, and the oldest Olympic goldmedallist was 59 years old when hewon his medal at the Los AngelesOlympics.

After just 6 lessons, which means6 Sundays on the beach and in thesea, one should be able to sail, andthe damage done is only aboutRM350. Lessons will cover topicssuch as the theory of sailing (how tosail the boat and sail it into thewind), basics on tide and current,wind prediction, effects ofsurrounding topography on airmovements, and racing rules(International Sailing Federation(ISAF) Rules). Theoretically onedoes not even need any swimmingskill to learn sailing, as one willalways put on a buoyancy aid whensailing, but an ability to swimcertainly helps.

On whether the sport isdangerous, KK believes sailing isjust about as dangerous as any othersport. Just always bear in mind thepotential risks of carrying out anyactivity in the sea and be preparedfor them, the sport should be safeenough for many years ofenjoyment. To-date there has beenno major mishap in the record of theRoyal Port Dickson Yacht Club. n


Ir. KK Aw with his dinghy at the RoyalPort Dickson Yacht Club

Ir. KK Aw and his passion

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sss

To most Malaysians, mining issynonymous with tin – a long

gone industry after the tin industrycollapsed in 1985. To them, themining industry will never berevived, hence the term “sunsetindustry”. However, those whoknew the geology and the mineralresources of Malaysia thoughtotherwise. The country has themineral resources to meet some, ifnot all, of the requirement of themanufacturing industry and of rockmaterials for construction.

The country has to takeadvantage of its own mineralresources. In order to do that,knowledge in mineral resources and mineral extraction has tocontinue to be developed andexpanded. The only way to do this is through education andresearch at local universities andresearch institutions.

Its importance is clear as atpresent we import most of the raw materials needed for themanufacturing industries. Thisincludes tin of which at one timeMalaysia is the world’s number oneproducer of tin.

A bit about the History ofMining in MalaysiaMalaysia was colonised from 1511until 1957 by the Portuguese, Dutch,Japanese and British. The colonialpowers tried to maintain theircontrol of the region because of thestrategic location, spices and tin.When the British was in control ofthe Malay Peninsula, they builtgood roads and railway systems totransport tin and rubber to theUnited Kingdom for export.

Alluvial tin reserves were minedby several European companiesusing dredges, which were duringthat time the most efficient method.Mining could still be carried outeven when dredges were at times

attacked by communist terrorists.This was one of the advantages of the dredge, as a dredge acted like a tank in the middle of themining pool.

In comparison to previouscolonists, the British exploited thenatural resources in moresystematic ways.

The British introduced mininglaws to control local miners and atthe same time to maintain theirinterest. Large areas of virginground rich in tin deposits wereleased to European or Britishmining companies. Local minerswere only given the dredged outareas to be mined using the gravelpumping method.

British or European miningcompanies had ventured deep forprimary mineral deposits, resultingin a gold mine in Raub and anunderground tin mine in SungeiLembing, Pahang, that claimed to bethe world’s deepest undergroundtin mine in the world. It ended itsoperation in 1987 due to the lowprice of tin.

There were signs that severalexploration activities were carriedout deep in the jungle of Kelantanbut their activities was somewhatconstrained by the First World War(1914–1919), the Second World War(1939–1945) and the communistinsurgency that began in 1948 andlasted until 1960.

Mining, including quarrying, isthe mainstay for the continuingprosperity of any nation besidesmanufacturing, as mining providesthe basic raw materials formanufacturing. This will in a waysave or even earn some foreignexchange. Many argued that we donot have enough appropriate rawmaterials (or minerals) for someparticular manufacturing processes.

Even when we do, the generalcomment from most manufacturers

is that the grade is not good enoughor not economical enough to beexploited. It is much cheaper toimport. The irony of it all it thatthere are foreign investors (miningcompanies) who have showninterest in mining and quarrying inMalaysia. According to them,Malaysia has the potential mineralresources and the political stability.

Prior to 1999, the blame for theslow development in mining wasput on the antique mining laws thathad few provisions for large scalemining. Not long ago however,Sabah adopted its new State MineralEnactment in 1999, followed byKelantan in 2001. The effects of thenew policies has yet to be seen.

High grade mineral deposits are long gone, while low grademineral deposits can only be mined economically on a large scale.The same applies to quarrying, and this has resulted in the takingover of some small quarries by a fewbig companies.

The government has taken steps to encourage mining such as introducing new mining andquarrying laws (the MineralDevelopment Act 1994, the StateMineral Enactments and theQuarrying Rules under the NationalLand Code.)

Mineral Resources inMalaysiaThe consumption of minerals byany society is related to the size andprosperity of the population andindustrial activity. According toChen (2000), reserves of tin ore arestill available in the Kinta Valley andKlang Valley. Other minerals areshown in Table 1 as extracted fromChen (2000). Chen concluded thatthere are a substantial amount ofmineral resources available inMalaysia. Strengthening of existing

MINING AND QUARRYING INMALAYSIA : The Industry and EducationBy : Ir. Dr Mior Termizi bin Mohd. Yusof, School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering,

Universiti Sains Malaysia

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non-metallic minerals industriesand the establishment of new ones to come up with new products, through collaborativeR&D, would be an important factorfor consideration.

Tertiary Education for theMining and QuarryingIndustry and Prospects ofGraduatesTo meet the demand of humanresources, mining or quarryingcompanies are seeking appropriatestaff to run their mines or quarriesefficiently. This is true especially inquarrying where it seems that thecountry does not have enoughengineering graduates to fill up theposts of quarrying engineers orquarry managers.

Table 1: Mineral resources ofMalaysia (after Chen, 2000)

PENINSULAR MALAYSIAMetallic Mineral Resources

Gold Significant occurrencesor prospects for alluvialand primary gold inKelantan, Pahang andNegeri Sembilan

Base Metals Ulu Sokor Pb-Zn deposit in Kelantan,Mengapur and nearbyChini. Cu-Mo-Zndeposits in Pahang.

Tin Reserves of cassiteriteore are still available,especially in the Kintaand Klang Valley

Industrial Mineral ResourcesSilica Sand Natural deposits are

found as beach ridgesmainly in Johor andTerengganu. Smallerdeposits exists in Perakand Kelantan.A second source of silicasand is the tailings sanddeposits, a resourcemade available as aresult of tin miningactivities.

Kaolin Mainly found in Johorand Perak and smallerdeposits in Pahang.

Ball Clay Occurs in abundance inall the states. Bothvarieties, that is, thewhite-firing plastic

variety – extensivelyused in the ceramicindustry and thebrownish red-firingtype, used for structuralclay products.

Limestone Kedah (790 Mt), Perak(780 Mt), Johor (40 Mt),Kelantan (1,150 Mt),Terengganu (86 Mt),Pahang (1,293 Mt), Perlis (437 Mt), Selangorand Negeri Sembilan.

Granite Abundant resources.Largely exploited asconstruction aggregate.

SABAHMetallic Mineral resources

Precious Gold, Silver andMetal Platinum group

minerals

Base Metals Copper

Iron-Nickel Tavai Plateau

Industrial MineralsSilica Sand Pulau Balambangan (30

Mt), Paitan (20 Mt),Sipitang (5 Mt) and KliasPeninsula (2 Mt)

Limestone Reserves of 300 Mt.

Energy Mineral ResourceCoal Maliau (215 Mt),

Malibau (44 Mt),Silimponpon (14 Mt),Labuan (9 Mt)

SARAWAK

Metallic Mineral Resources

Gold Bau district, Lundu-Sematan, Gunung Moi-Santubong, Subang,Bukit Deman, BukitSelanjan-Murup, BukitSubong and Bukit BatuTiban.

Industrial Mineral ResourcesLimestone Occurring in Bau-

Penrissen- Serian areacovering about 285 km2.Also occurs at Subis,Mulu, Long Lama, Arip,Kukus, Tatan, Beluruand Selindong.

Granite For dimension stone and aggregate.

Silica Sand Combined reserves of 57 Mt

Energy Mineral Resources

Coal Five coal deposits withcombined reserves of725 Mt

*Mt – million tonnes

Most mining companies willlook for staff that have some basicknowledge in geology and miningor mineral processing engineering.When mining engineers are hard tocome by, the company has to“retrain” civil or mechanicalengineers or chemical engineers ornon-engineers to do mining andmineral engineers’ work. Howeverthe fact is that, there is no suchretraining, as the engineersemployed are left on their own tolearn by themselves on-the-job, somost of them are still stuck in theircivil or mechanical ways orwhatever ways they used to withlittle or no regard to the effect ofgeology or mineralogy of the rock intheir operation.

As a result they end up withquarries producing aggregate fromgood marble or they are puzzledwhy the granite hill they areworking on is not producing thequality of aggregate as expected.

Most of the Malaysian miningengineers and mineral processingengineers were graduates fromoverseas until Universiti SainsMalaysia (USM) began offering afour-year B. Eng. Mineral ResourcesEngineering Programme in 1986.USM is the only university in thecountry that is offering such anengineering programme. Manywould question, why did our localuniversity offered the programmeafter the tin market collapsed in1985 and after hundreds of our tinmines closed down?

Despite that, the government hascontinued to offer the MineralResources Engineering Programmeat USM since the importance ofmining and quarrying to the nationcannot be denied. In the early stages of the programme, there were hiccups since it was difficult to attract experienced miningengineers to teach at the universityfull time since the salary scale for a lecturer is not that attractive.With that constraint, the emphasisat USM was more on mineralprocessing and the earlier graduatesare registered with the Board ofEngineers under the discipline ofMineral Processing Engineering.Most of the graduates employed by

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a gold mine in Pahang are assignedas metallurgists or mineralprocessing engineers.

So in effect, the then USMgraduates can attain theirprofessional status in the disciplineof mineral processing engineering.The prospect of jobs as aprofessional mineral processingengineer in the industry is not thatwide as compared to a professionalmining engineer. That is one of the reasons, until now, none of them has attained professionalengineer status.

Realising the situation, thecurriculum was modified to includemore mining subjects in the corecourses, thus after 2004, graduatesof the programme can be registeredunder the discipline of mineralresources engineering.

Since 2004, the curriculum in theMineral Resources EngineeringProgramme at USM is on par withany mining engineering degree inother universities. However there isstill room for improvement. Thusthe USM graduates when they have attained their professionalstatus in mineral resourcesengineering, can practice in thesame way as the “old” miningengineering graduates.

Graduates working with miningor petroleum companies are well offand employee turnover is low.However for those working withthe quarries, the salary offered isusually lower than the salaries of

engineers in the governmentservice, despite having to workunder the hot sun and handlingexplosives as well. So thosegraduates with good grades at the university will not stay long in the quarry and it won’t be longuntil they get an offer to work in an air-conditioned factory with abetter pay. n

Reference:Chen Shick Pei (2000). Malaysia’sMineral Resources: Opportunities For Development. In Proceedings of National Seminar on theMalaysian Minerals Industry heldat Kota Kinabalu in June 22–24,2000. Kuala Lumpur: MalaysianChamber of Mines.


Penjom Gold Mine, Pahang

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SYNOPSIS When hard rock is encountered incivil engineering work, it must beremoved mechanically through theuse of machines or it must beblasted using explosives. However, fear of damage claims, accidentsand limited knowledge of blastingwork and also difficulty in getting a license to blast has caused moreand more contractors to opt for mechanical rock excavationmethods. In most cases mechanicalexcavation is much slower and more costly than using controlledblasting methods.

This article discusses theconcerns and issues that affect thismethod of excavation and offers apractical approach for developingcontrolled blasting programs.Current public perceptions aboutblasting and risk analysis issues arealso explored.

INTRODUCTIONTo blast or not to blast. This is acommon question that engineersand contractors ask themselveswhen faced with a hard rockexcavation in urban areas.Increasingly, they opt for themechanical excavation method orsometimes chemical means that are more costly than drilling and blasting in nearly every case.Why is this?

Often there is pressure fromgovernment agencies to avoidblasting, wherever possible, inurban construction work. Blastingcreates public relation problems for

project owners and their designconsultants. The general public’sperception on blasting is negative,having been forced by events inIraq, Palestine and also bybombings in Kenya, Oklahoma andthe recent suicide bombing in Egyptwhere more than 30 Israelisholidaying in Sinai were killed. Thiscreates great fear among the publicabout using explosives near theirhomes and has great impact on thechoice of excavation method.

A recent newspaper reportindicated that a municipal council inSelangor has rejected an applicationto do blasting work at a constructionsite because of fear by theneighbours that the blasting workmay endanger them. The public isfearful that the blasting work maydamage their homes and result inflyrocks, ground vibration and alsonoise. This may force the contractorto use mechanical means such as

breakers to break the graniteoutcrop and boulders, and alsochemicals to fragment these rocks. The residents will then besubjected to months of continuoushammering of rocks by breakersinstead of weeks if blasting weekswere carried out properly. The costof breaking rock will thereforeincrease enormously and the nearbyresidents will have to suffer noise,dust and other disturbances formonths. At the end of the day thehouse buyers have to pay apremium price for the houses theybuy there.

While litigation for allegedblasting damage is common in theUnited States, it is not yet a culturein Malaysia. While contractors havebeen threatened with lawsuits inMalaysia by many quarters, manyhave not materialised because of thelack of knowledge on the effect ofblasting on various structures andthe failure of the litigant to prove

THE BLASTING DILEMMABy : Ir. Hj. Look Keman bin Sahari, B.Sc (Mining Eng), M.Sc (Explosives Ordnance Eng),

DIS FIEM, P.Eng(M), FIQ, MiSEE Mining, Quarrying and Explosives Consultant

Blasting of outcrops and boulders

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that he is in fact the victim,especially if the blasting contractoris backed by competent consultants.

Many house owners are sincerein their belief that blasting causesnew damage to their properties,despite blasting having vibrationmagnitudes well below the limitimposed by the authorities,normally below 10 mm/s. This limitis actually well below the thresholdlimit of possible cosmetic damage asrecommended by USBM at 50mm/sec. Regardless of the validityof the claims, these claims can becostly to the contractor who needsto hire consultants to investigatesuch claims and lawyers to defendthem, and who also need to addressthe threat of a stop work order – the"stop first and investigate latermentality" from the authoritieswhen there are complaints. Since thecost can be high, the blastingcontractors must plan their workcarefully. The blasting work must becarefully chosen and monitored andcontrolled to prevent damagecomplaints and possible litigations.

Blasting Perception VersusRealityPeople are primarily concernedabout blasting in urban areasbecause they believe that it isdangerous or it may cause propertydamage. When a blasting accidentoccurs, it is well publicised innewspapers and as such localpeople have a negative attitudetowards rock blasting. Many ofthese accidents have been caused byhuman error or by lack of expertknowledge from the contractor suchas poor decision making, incorrectblast design, unsuitable loading andimproperly controlled measures. Itcan also be due to lack of consistentregulations from the authorities.

Human error can be reduceddramatically by improved trainingand experience requirements for all

blasters. Currently there is noinstitution in Malaysia that offerstraining for blasting in urban andother sensitive areas and there is norequirement that a blaster who wantto do blasting work must attendsuch a course. The Institute ofQuarrying, Malaysia and the Policeconduct a Shotfiring Course that ismore tailored for quarrying work.However, due to security reasonsonly those on a need to know basisare allowed to attend such a course.

Blasters are only required topossess a Shotfirer’s Certificateissued by the Police or theDepartment of Mineral andGeoscience. However the certificateis more suited to those who want towork in quarries where the blastingtechniques are different and therisks involved are of a differentmagnitude. The blasters and theengineers can only learn throughtrial and error, and through readingof journals if they are members of asociety such as the InternationalSociety of Explosive Engineers. It isvery difficult for blasting engineersto gain proper experience inblasting at close quarters since thereis no requirement for a blastingcontractor to hire them.

Generally, the blasting contractordo not want to hire professionalengineers to oversee blasting workon the pretext that the blasters donot need their services, because inmany instances the engineers relyon the blaster to make decisions. Infact, many blasting contractorsargue that the hiring of suchengineers only increase their cost.There is therefore a clear need fortraining for blasting engineers toimprove their competence andprove their worth. The other is the lack of interest in engineers tolearn and do blasting work becausethe work is hard and also most of the time it involves working inthe hot sun.

However, there is definitely aneed for proper training for blastersand engineers in blasting work inurban areas as such requirementswill improve technical expertise and this will lead to fewer accidents. This will also increase the confidence of the public inprofessional engineers and result inless anxiety.

Blasting ApproachBefore a project owner considers aproposal for blasting, he mustconsider several factors. Blastingwork in urban or sensitive areas isdefinitely much more costly thanblasting work at quarries and mines.He has to consider that the risk ofaccident is higher and he has to takebetter precautionary control toensure that the neighbours nextdoor are safe. The volume per blastis very low, measured in hundredsof cubic metres compared to severalten thousands of cubic metres perblast at a quarry.

Quite often civil consultantssimply copies specifications forblasting at quarries or other blastingsites that are inappropriate for thelocation. Many simply chooseinitiation methods that are notcorrect, for example, safety fuse anddetonating cord for blasting near aresidential area or an electricalsystem near areas where there areunderground power lines for thesake of reducing cost.

Some choose explosives that arenon-existent in the country showingclearly that the specifications aresimply copied from foreign booksthat are outdated.

At present there are no blastingstandards for vibration and airblastcontrol in our country. Differentconsultants tend to copy standardsfrom different countries such asAustralia, United Kingdom and theUSA. Some consultants tend tochoose the lowest possible limit to


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ensure that they areapproved by the authoritiesonly to find out later theyare unsuitable for thelocation and are veryexpensive to comply. Whilethe Australian Standardlimit of 10 mm/sec forvibration and 120 dB(L) forairblast are applicable formost cases, in somecircumstances a lower oreven higher limit may beconsidered appropriate. Itis therefore essential thatthe specifications proposedfor implementation mustbe appropriate andpractical for the locationchosen to avoid problemsof cost overrun and theneed to appeal to theauthorities to modify thespecification later.

It is quite common inMalaysia where consul-tants are hired only to writethe blast specification whenthe authorities request amethod of statement to be written, but after that he is not required by the project owner orblasting contractor tooversee and supervise thejob to save cost.

One very importantrequirement in blastspecification is the need torecord the blasting workcorrectly. The blast designmust be clearly recorded.Burden, spacing, depth,blasting location, explosiveused and the protectionmethods to control flyrockmust be recorded andshown on the plan. Videosor photographs of blastingwork must be taken.Vibration and airblastmonitoring programs mustbe implemented andrecorded correctly to checkcompliance. This is actually

a necessity to protect theowner from possiblecomplaints from the public and as supportingdocuments in discussionwith the authorities duringtheir routine inspectionwork and also in case oflitigation in court.

Finally, the mostimportant element incontrolled blasting is publicrelations. The blaster, theproject manager, the owner and also theengineer must developgood relations with theneighbours, keep theminformed of the develop-ment and show to themthat we care about theirsafety and well-being.Make them feel safe. They will also make you feel safe.

CONCLUSIONBlasting work is actuallyvery safe if performed bycompetent and qualifiedpeople. It is also muchcheaper and fastercompared to rock breakingby mechanical andchemical means. However,the blasters and theengineers must be willingto improve theirknowledge of blastingwork and prove that theycan do so profitably andsafely and minimisedisturbance to the public.They must also beknowledgeable in the effectof blasting work to nearbystructures and understandthe psychological effect ofblasting on the public.Many blasting works havebeen completed safely andsuccessfully in the past andwill continue to be so in the future. Blasting can bevery satisfying when it iswell done. n

F E A T U R E


C O M M E N T

As of now, perhaps, there is onlya little more than 1 person in

every 10,000 in the country that hasany satisfactory idea of what IWRMis all about. Check: it stands for“Integrated Water ResourcesManagement”. And any proponentof IWRM will tell you that it is theonly (?) smart way (currentlyknown to man) to go aboutmanaging the water resources in thecountry – notwithstanding the factthat it often rains cats and dogs inthis part of the world. That is if: (a)Malaysia does not want to be facinga very acute shortage of water wellbefore its anticipated graduation tothe developed nation status comethe magical year 2020; and (b) itdoes not also want to spend thelion’s share of whatever little money that it has on securing itsvibrant water resources, andguaranteeing clean, refreshing andwholesome drinking water for itscitizens. Excuse me for the longish expression.

Be that as it may, the pundits arealready singing to the tune ofRM200 billion plus in capital outlayto be required for the purpose ofstaving off the projected water-related crisis. That is, if you couldtake, at its face value, whatever the‘specialists’ are saying. Just ignorewhatever is spewed out from themouths of self-proclaimed insiders,if you want to continue to enjoyyour good night’s sleep and notworry about having to pay higherand higher taxes.

The opportunists among us,especially the smartest and the most‘well-connected’ must have, by now,gained years of lead time indevising their clever ways andmeans, and putting their stakes allover the place on the big money. Butas usual, the most upright among us– usually and unfortunately the less

smart, and worst still, the lessresourceful too – most probablywould need at least a decade ofpublic education before they can beexpected to know (sufficiently)what this (and IWRM) is all about.Whoever did tell you that theplaying field has to be level; life isn’tmeant to be so. Right? Wrong.

They (the proponents of IWRM)will probably elaborate further: thatIWRM calls for participatorymanagement which endeavours toinvolve all the stakeholders in orderto be successful. They will go on to tell you that the public is a very critical group among thestakeholders; and needless to say, itsparticipation (or engagement) is the keystone that holds the arch in its place.

What beast is ‘publicparticipation’ anyway? ‘PublicParticipation’ (in IWRM) may beunderstood as “an essential part ofthe process (of IWRM) whereeffective representation from thepublic is intentionally sought, itsrequirements appreciated, itsexpertise and resources tapped, itsunwavering support garnered, andits valued role recognised (as in full-fledged co-partnership) inthe operational conduct of IWRM – from inception throughimplementation and to successfulconclusion.” Quite a mouthful; butit does mean that the ‘resources’ thatyou and I have – expert or otherwise– are now being positively soughtafter by the powers-that-be. So asnot to insult your intellect, youcould actually find yourself a fairnumber of equally appropriate (infact, better) definitions of ‘PublicParticipation’ in the public domain;just visit appropriate IWRMwebsites the world over.

The question is: is the nation(read: you and I) ready to enjoy this

newly-discovered fruit of politicaldemocracy? The answer perhapslies in the so-called ‘Empoweringthe Public’. Now, is this beastanother incomprehensible kind?‘Public Empowerment’, like itscousin ‘Public Participation’, is “anessential part of the process (ofIWRM);” but it is the part (of theprocess) that “seeks to mobilise,facilitate, legitimise and authorisethe participation of the public –politically, administratively andotherwise.” But it does not meanthat the duly elected ‘represen-tatives of the people’ or the publicadministrators will now findundesirable competition on theirhands. Quite the contrary, theyshould instead find partners – asopposed to political nemesis – whowill complement and support themin ways that they could not haveimagined before. Their newfoundpartners may now complementthem – if they were to play theirown roles correctly – as theirextended eyes, ears, and evenmouths, not to mention theirintellects as well.

But don’t get to be so naïve as tobelieve that you and I – if and whenwe get to be ‘so empowered’ by theprocess of IWRM – would (like asaint we are not) abstain fromtasting the sweetness of ‘power’.This experience (and theopportunities that it entails) couldeventually make the complacentpoliticians run helter-skelter fortheir money. Boy, do I love this kindof competition already – anddemocracy, especially if and when itassumes this expanded newmeaning. But you and I had betterbeware though, “Power corrupts,and absolute power corruptsabsolutely.” Doesn’t it ring a bell? We don’t want to end up at the bottomless pit when we aredead, do we?

IWRM: EMPOWERING THE PUBLICBy: Ir. Abas bin Mohamad Noordin, B. Sc. Hons. (Leeds), MIEM


So, you could soon expect to beinvited (together with fellowstakeholders) to jointly man variousIWRM committees, work groups,think tanks, boards, councils, andwhatever-have-you, where youcould sit pretty, walk tall, and makesmart contribution as you should inthe name of ‘Public Empowerment’.

In anticipation of that, youshould now brush up on your paperwriting and presentation skills; youcould soon be recognised asimportant discussants of IWRM-related topics, or as able managersof public discussions such asfacilitators, moderators andorganisers. Your hitherto dullintellectual life could soon light up;you could help electrify IWRMworkshops, seminars, forums, and conferences etc., which are held

as a matter of routine at variouslocal, regional and internationalscenes. Wow!

Closer home, you should learnthe art of working – as covetedpartners – with regulators andauthorities to enforce their rules andregulations, and in the monitoringof their enforcement. The best partyet is that you get to participate inthe drafting of the desiredregulations, not to mention in thegovernance of the entities too. Now,whoever said that democracy isonly about going to the ballot box every five years (to kick out the deadwood or corruptrepresentatives, and/or to electfresh new faces in their places)!

Don’t expect to be amplyrewarded for the participationthough (that’s the essential spirit); at

least until the country – well thetaxpayers (a.k.a. you and I) – canvery well afford it. In any case,should you ‘prove your real worth’convincingly enough – when youget to become the most critical partof the whole process – you couldactually ‘compensate yourselvesappropriately’ in ways that youdeem fair; no enlightened taxpayersshould ever complain, should they?After all, you do represent them too,remember? And this empowermentthing is supposed to eliminate thecommunication gap between theparticipating public – who are now the driver of actions – and their partnering regulators andauthorities – whose staff are well-oiled competent executives! Sounds too good to be true? Well,just try it. n

C O M M E N T


It was with great pleasure that IEMG&S Vice-Chairman Yau Chau Fong,

Honorary Secretary and Treasurer KeeWai Fun and Committee MembersKarthigesu Muniyandi and I, Trudy RGanendra, accepted the invitation ofthe Institution of Engineers Singapore(IES) to attend their 28th AnnualDinner & Dance on Friday, 5November 2004. We had highexpectations of a grand event and aproductive weekend of learning aboutIES Young Engineers (YE) anddiscussing our mutual cooperation.

The event was at the Ritz Carlton,Millenia hotel and after some troublewith transport (all the taxis were full soit was all down to our own two feetand our map reading skills!), wemanaged to arrive at their GrandBallroom where there were about 50tables of IES members and guests. Wewere seated at the IEM YE committeetable with their Chairperson ChewChee Yong, Co-Chairperson ChanHsien Hung, Honorary Secretary JinaTan, Business Manager Andy Wee,Event Director Heng Kok Leng andCommittee Member Eng Ming Yao.After the typical engineers’introductions of "My name is..., I am acivil/mech/etc. engineer," we began tolearn more about each other.

We discovered that IES had justundergone a radical change wherenow fresh graduates could be admittedas Members of IES, instead ofGraduate Members. This is toencourage fresh graduates to join IESand to give young members more sayin the running of IES. The separateAGM of the Graduate Members was abolished as a new IES YE section would take over the functions of the previous GraduateMembers committee. A new grade ofmembership, Senior Member was alsointroduced for members who havemade substantial contributions to theInstitution. These changes would notaffect the present endorsement ofdrawings policies, i.e. endorsement ofdrawing is still by ProfessionalEngineers (PE) who are governed bythe PE Board.

As yet, the effect of these changesare unknown but the IES YECommittee hope to take advantage ofthese changes to increase IEM YEmembership and activities whileintegrating Young Engineers into themainstream IES structure. It will beinteresting to observe what effect these changes will have on thestandard of engineering in Singaporeand the culture and membership of IES and we wish them the best intheir endeavours.

Certainly, the culture of IES isdifferent from that of IEM as wasevidenced by the grand openingceremony of the Annual Dinner andDance which consisted of 4 skimpily-clad women dancing sexily to rock music. A far cry indeed, fromMalaysia's usual UKM-or-similar dikirbarat or other traditional culturalshow! The rest of the dinner was muchmore normal though the MC did playsome very cerebral games. I have neverbeen asked to think so much at adinner before! Our Karthigesu waseven asked to show his knowledge ofIndian culture when he went on stageto compete, which he did and won aprize! After the dinner, we were luckyenough to meet with the IES President,Er. A/Prof. Foo Say Wei, who hadsome kind words of encouragementfor us.

On Saturday, 6 November 2004, we,the four Musketeers, I mean, the fourIEM G&S representatives met up withChew, Chan and Heng again and werealso introduced to Hon. Treasurer ChinChee Chung. We spent the day at East Coast Park, a lovely developmentin Singapore allowing people to cycle, rollerblade, walk, run, picnic,barbeque and swim in well-maintained facilities at any time of theday or night, promoting healthylifestyles to Singaporeans. In betweencycling and blading on the smoothtarmac runways, we discussed howeach committee worked and how wecould cooperate for our mutual benefit.Some items of discussion were: theIEM G&S procedures for organisingactivities which may also be useful to

IES YE, the next IEM/IES meet andother collaborations. Another notablepoint was how fresh Singaporeangraduates tend to be older and moremature than Malaysian graduates asthey have undergone at least 2 years ofNational Service. After a late lunch anda quick visit to our hotel, the NewSeventh Storey Hotel, to see its over 40year-old manual "cage" lift, we weresorry to say goodbye to our kind hostsbut thanked them for a lovely weekendand hoped that we would see themagain soon at Myanmar's YEAFEO orat the next IEM/IES meet! n

PS: The next IEM/IES meet is beingplanned for a weekend in May 2005on Batam Island to allow IEM G&Sand IES YE members to meet eachother for networking and socialising.Other activities of the IEM G&SExternal Affairs portfolio include anupcoming membership drive inTerengganu and a TechnicalDelegation to Japan in April 2005which will include visits to severalinnovative flood prevention, waterquality and other engineering works and local authorities. Theseactivities will be advertised shortly by flyers in Jurutera and via [email protected] emailinglist; but if you would like moreinformation on how to join theseactivities or would like to assist theG&S External Affairs sub-committee, please email me [email protected]. Thank you!

After IES dinner and dance with Er. Assoc. Prof. Foo Say Wei

DOING THE DITTY DOWN UNDER : INSTITUTE OFENGINEERS SINGAPORE 38TH ANNUAL DINNER & DANCE

Reported by : Sdri. Trudy R. Ganendra

R E P O R T Graduate & Student Sect ion

REPORT ON TWO DAY CONFERENCE ONGEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING THEMED “Design &

Construction of Pile Foundation: The Malaysian Experience”Reported by: Ir. Tan Yean Chin, Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division

Atwo-day conference on geo-technical engineering themed

“Design & Construction of PileFoundation: The MalaysianExperience” was held at CasuarinaHotel, Ipoh, Perak, on 29-30September, 2003. The event wasjointly organised by Jabatan KerjaRaya of Perak, Perak Branch and the Geotechnical EngineeringTechnical Division of The Institutionof Engineers, Malaysia. Over 300 participants from both the public and private sectors attendedthe conference.

The conference focused on thedesign and construction of pilefoundations in Malaysia. The speciallecturers invited to speak in theconference and the topics of theirpresentation are as follows:Ir. Neoh Cheng Aik• Pile Foundation Design &

Construction – An Overview• Site Investigation for Civil

Engineering Projects• Case Histories of Pile Foundation

Design (co-authored with Ir. SobriAziz)

Ir. Yee Yew Weng• Case Histories of Pile Foundation

FailureIr. Mun Kwai Peng• Testing of Piles

Ir. Liew Shaw Shong• Design and Construction of

Micropiles (co-authored with Mr.Fong Chew Chung)

Ir. Tan Yean Chin• Design and Construction of Bored

Pile Foundation (co-authored withMr. Chow Chee Meng)A copy of the proceedings for the

above conference is available in theIEM library for reference.

Participants were given theopportunity to seek the opinion of thespeakers on various topics of interestin the last session of the conference.Many aspects of pile design andconstruction were raised, rangingfrom foundation design to evaluationof performance. Of these, two topics which attracted considerableinterest were:1) How do engineers plan, supervise

and ensure that proper subsurfaceinvestigation (S.I.) is carried out?

2) What criteria should be used to define pile failure whencarrying out maintained load test?For example, should a pile beconsidered to have failed and thedesign deemed to be unacceptablewhen it experiences settlement ofmore than 40mm at twice thedesign working load?

Generally, the panelists stronglyrecommended that S.I. should be properly planned and supervisedby the consultant. The UniformBuilding By-Laws 1984 (Act 133)stipulates that the consultant who is responsible for the design and construction of the foundation or structure should also supervise the field works, which includes S.I. This requirement has beenreiterated by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) in a recentcircular to all Professional Engineers.

It was recognised that manyspecifications state that a test pile isconsidered to have failed and thedesign becomes unacceptable if thepile settles more than 40mm at twicethe design working load. However,from a geotechnical engineering point of view, a pile should only be considered to have failed if it exceeds the serviceability limit for the particular structure for which the pile was designed tosupport. The serviceability limit will vary depending on the structureand should be defined clearly by the designer. n

A VISIT TO KL MONORAIL SYSTEMReported by: Ir. Nah Teik Ong, Highway & Transportation Engineering Technical Division

Agroup from IEM consisting of 32members visited the KL

Monorail System (KLMS) on 8 May2004 at KLMS headquarters inBrickfields.

The program for the visit startedby a briefing on the Kuala LumpurMonorail System given by Tuan HajiAhmad Zainuddin Jamaluddin,Director of KL Monorail System

Sdn. Bhd. The briefing touch onvarious aspects of the projectincluding the planning, design,construction, operation, safety and manufacturing of the trains.

KL Monorail ProjectThe project costing about RM1.18billion is a privatized project imple-mented to ease the traffic congestion

in the city of Kuala Lumpur. It is anintra-city public transport system thatserve the central business, hotel andshopping districts of Kuala Lumpur.The KL Monorail System has startedoperation on 31 August 2003.

The alignment of the 8.6km longdual guideway elevated monorailsystem begins from the Jalan TunRazak Bus Terminal in the north andpasses through Kuala Lumpur’s


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“Golden Triangle”, ending next to KLSentral in Brickfields.

The system has 11 stations andoperates with 12 units of 2-car trains.The system is operated manually by adriver with full Automatic TrainProtection System.

Monorail TrainsThe KL Monorail System uses the firstmade-in-Malaysia monorail trainswhich are manufactured at themanufacturing facility in Rawang.The plant is equipped with advancedand high precision machineryincluding laser cutting machines,vacuum forming machines, roboticwelding systems, etc. Within themanufacturing facility, there is a one-kilometre test track built to simulategradients and curves for operationaltesting of the trains.

The monorail train is air-conditioned and consists of a 2-carunit, measuring 20m in length and 3mwide. Each train is capable of carrying214 passengers (22% seated and 78%standing). The train has a maximumspeed of 80km per hour and operates

on a peak hour frequencyof 3 to 5 minutes.

Train Control CenterAfter the briefing, thegroup proceed to visit the Train Control Center located in Wisma Monorail, whereall the monorail trains inoperation are beingmonitored at this center.Apart from monitoringthe operation of trains,the control center can alsomonitor any incidenthappening at all thestations.

Monorail DepotThe group also made a brief tour tothe monorail depot located inBrickfields. The depot is equippedwith facilities that provides forgeneral inspection, maintenance andcleaning of the trains. It is also used tostore the trains when they are not in operation.

Monorail RideFinally, the visit ended with a ride onthe monorail train. The ride took usthrough a number of stations wherewe were briefed on some of theimportant facilities provided for thesafety and convenience of the users.The group also managed to observehow the track switch works to enablethe trains to switch tracks. n


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IEM participants led by Ir. Nah Teik Ong visiting KL Monorail System

O ne fine sunny Saturdaymorning on 7 August 2004, a

visit to Stepping Stones Homes wasmade by the subcommittee onLadies Engineers as one of theactivities for the 2004/05 session.Stepping Stones Homes, located in Jalan Sungai Dua, Taman Seputihis a home for children who are from broken families or from single parents. When we arrived at the home, we were greeted by a cheerful Mrs. Johnson who gave a short brief on how the home came about.

The homes founded by Mrs.Johnson’s husband, Mr. PastorJohnson in 1998 started initiallywith three children. The housewhich we visited was formerly adilapidated house which was thenfull of undergrowth, with leakingroofs and without proper sanitationfacilities. However, after beingcleaned, the roof repaired, wallspainted and sanitation facilitiesconstructed, the house is currently amodest and presentable home toninety-one children consisting of

boys and girls with their ageranging from two years to twenty-one years old. The younger childrenand elder girls are housed herewhilst the older boys are placed inanother house across the road. Thechildren goes to school until theyare Form 3 and after that are trainedin other skills so as to prepare themto be able to work to earn a living.Volunteers provide tuition classesand in the evenings biblical classesare conducted.

The homes survive on kindnessfrom the public and privateinstitutions. Some of the older boyswho are already working contributetowards some of the homes’sexpenses. In fact, due to thegenerosity of some, the home is ableto have its own bus to ferry thechildren to and from school, whichdoes help to solve transportproblems. While we were there, agroup from Citibank dropped by tofind out more about the homes andto see where they can be of help.

We were there for one hour or sotalking and playing with the smaller

lovely children who were delightedand very excited to see us. Asgesture of goodwill we broughtwith us bags of rice, sugar, cookingoil, onions, milk powder, biscuits,chocolates, sweets, some toys andstory books to give to the children.

The home is in need of any formof contribution and those interestedto donate in kind or otherwise,please contact Mr. Pastor Johnson at016-3858161.

The team would like to take theopportunity to thank the staff of IEM who have helped in one wayor another to make the visit a success. n

VISIT TO STEPPING STONES HOMESReported By: Ir. Hjh. Juliah binti Tan Sri Mohd. Hassan, Sub-Committee on Ladies Engineers

Meeting the children of Stepping Stones Homes.

Eager minds yearning for knowledge and abrighter future.

Seated on the floor doing their homework.


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I n conjunction with theEngineering Week, The

Institution of Engineers, Malaysia(IEM) Sabah Branch successfullyconducted a blood donationcampaign on Sunday, 11 April 2004,at the Palm Square ShoppingComplex, 4th Floor, Centre PointSabah. IEM (S) has promoted thecampaign to the public as aprogramme to help in promotingself-awareness in donating blood aspart and parcel of a caring society.

The event started at 10.30am,officiated by Y.B. Ir. Edward Yong,who is the present AssistantMinister of Local Government andHousing of Sabah. As the campaignproceeded, Y.B. Ir. Edward Yonghimself even volunteered indonating blood along with others.The Branch Chairman was presentduring the event. The response from the public was better thanexpected; approximately 130 peopleparticipated in the blood donationdrive. On top of that, to encouragepositive feedback from the public,donors were not only given lunch vouchers, but also an

opportunity to join a lucky draw contest, which offeredattractive prizes sponsored bySutera Harbour Management andother volunteering organisations.

The blood donation campaignwas organised by the cooperativeefforts of IEM graduates, SabahBranch sub-committee membersand volunteers from the BloodDepartment of Queen ElizabethHospital. The campaign was mademore exciting with interestingcontests such as the MentalArithmetic Competition and theChildren Art Competition. TheChildren Art Competition started atabout 10.30a.m., and lasted until12.30p.m. at the Wong Kwok ShowUnit venue. An estimated 53children took part in this artcompetition with the open title of"Water" (In Engineering), which isaligned with one of the campaignobjectives in promoting love andcare towards natural resources.These competitions reaches outparticularly towards the youngergeneration in order to get theirinvolvement and participation in

the campaign, with the addedbenefit of exposing them tobecoming more civic-conscioustowards the environment.

Refreshments were provided to all participants during breaks,sponsored by the Wong KwokGroup Holding. The MentalArithmetic Competition lasted until3.00pm. This contest is opened tothree different categories: Group Afor 5 to 6 year old participants,Group B for 7 to 9 year oldparticipants, and Group C for 10 to12 year old participants. To theorganisers’ surprise, about 80participants turned up and joinedin, encouraged by an enthusiasticand supportive crowd. At the end ofthe blood donation campaign,prizes were given to all deservingwinners. The event officially endedat 3.30p.m. The IEM would like toexpress their heartfelt gratitude toco-sponsors Sutera Harbour, co-organisers Wong Kwok Holdingsand other volunteer associations inmaking this eventful campaign asuccessful one. n

IEM SABAH BRANCH : BLOOD DONATION

Reported by: Sdr. Martin Ng Chee Hou, IEM Sabah Branch

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REPORT ON THE GSM-IEM FORUM:“The Roles of Engineering Geology and Geotechnical

Engineering in Construction Works”Reported by: Assoc. Prof. Tan Boon Kong, Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division

AGSM-IEM Forum on “TheRoles of Engineering Geology

and Geotechnical Engineering inConstruction Works”, jointlyorganised by the Working Group onEngineering Geology & Hydro-geology of the Geological Society ofMalaysia (GSM), and theGeotechnical Engineering TechnicalDivision of IEM was held on 21October 2004, at the Department ofGeology, University of Malaya,Kuala Lumpur. This forum was the12th in the series of such forumsorganised by GSM/IEM, initiatedby GSM since 1992.

This 12th forum was made very general in nature in order to encourage more paper contri-butions. It covered practically everytopic, and was targeted as acompilation of local case histories ofconstruction projects. A total of 16 papers were presented at theforum – 3 by geologists and 13 by engineers. Topics range fromengineering geology, soil and rock slopes, slope failures andstabilisation, karst, foundations,ground improvement, constructionproblems, etc., all illustrated byvarious case studies.

Response to the forum wasoverwhelming, with around 100participants attending. Due toconstraints of space at the lecture hall, several late requestshad to be turned down. Fortunately,extra copies of the proceedings were prepared for the late comers.Ample time was allocated for questions and discussions, andthis were fully utilised, resulting in very lively and fruitfuldiscussions after every presentation.

Limited copies of theproceedings are available for sale at RM30. Please enquire at GSM secretariat. (Tel.: 03-7957 7036, Fax: 03-79563900, E-mail:[email protected]) n

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JURUTE BuRlletin Bula Anan IJM - IEM

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