Cracks begin to appear to the adjacent houses affected by the continuous piling and construction works. In a desperate attempt shed responsibility, the Minister of Works without any investigation puts the blame on the residents for causing the cracks in their own homes
Cracks in the homes …
Subsequently, the residents have agreed to appoint an independent body to investigate the cause of cracks. IKRAM was commissioned to conduct the study. The study results conclusively determined that the cause of cracks in the homes is due to the water table balance. This effect of caisson digging have pumped out the water from the ground which has destabilize the soil and cause the nearby homes to sink and crack!
Illustration on cause of crack in homes
Here is the full story from The Star
Samy: RM1.2b project will go on KUALA LUMPUR: The RM1.2bil Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Highway project will go on despite objections from Sri Petaling residents. Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the Government could not stop the project now, adding that the highway was for the future convenience of thousands of Malaysians. “If there are objections each time we build highways and roads, let’s stop building them. “Let’s go back to using bullock carts. “It’s easier that way and it does not cause any problem, except that you will need one-and-a half months to reach Penang.” He said the Government would not compensate the residents, who had complained that the walls of their houses had cracked because of the construction works, as the highway was on government land. Samy Vellu said the ministry had sent engineers to the residents’ houses and found that the cracks were on the extended part of the houses built on filled ground without strong foundation. “It is the residents’ fault,” he said when commenting on the residents’ requests for the Government to re-align the elevated highway so that it did not run through the Sri Petaling neighbourhood. On Wednesday, Backbenchers Club chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad led a group of parliamentarians to visit the affected residential area and called for City Hall to issue a stop-work order against the builder of the highway. Last week, after meeting the residents outside Parliament, Samy Vellu said the Government had spent RM400mil so far, and that the highway would help lighten traffic flow along the KL-Seremban Highway. The highway is part of the North-South Expressway that has 160,000 to 300,000 cars plying it on weekdays, 600,000 cars on Fridays and up to 1.1 million cars on Mondays. He said the project had been delayed for eight years after the agreement was made in 1997 because of the economic downturn. He said foundation works at Sri Petaling would be done by the hand-dug caisson method and not piling to avoid causing pollution and disturbance to the neighbourhood. Samy Vellu also said the Government would build a two-metre noise barrier on top of a concrete parapet wall and noise barriers along the boundary of the residential area.
26KM stretches from Kampung Pandan to Putrajaya
LLM, DBKL, DOE say they are not aware about the sheer proximity of the highway to the homes!