Tuesday, 9 March 2021
Sunday, 7 March 2021
My comments on :
“DCM hopes special portfolio would boost
social-economic devt in Sarawak, Sabah”
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang
Tengah Ali Hasan hopes that the new Sabah and Sarawak Affairs portfolio could
bring the socio-economic development in the two ‘states’ up to the level of
their counterparts in Peninsular Malaya.
Sabah
& Sarawak have been plundered and exploited to the extent that we are in
such appalling states because of the weak and puppet-like leadership in Sabah
and Sarawak. First of all, the
traitor-minded Sabah and Sarawak leaders are ever-ready to please the
imperialists and colonial masters. They
play blind to the fact that MA63 is void and null from the very beginning.
It is
idiotic to plead for fairness and equality from colonial masters. And to many Sarawakians, they see it as
foul-plays between the Malayan colonial masters and selfish and
self-interested-minded Sarawakian ministers.
I believe
that many Sarawakians are boiling with rage about the colonisation of the
Malayan government and the Sarawak government led by BN-GPS alliance is not
sincere in protecting the interests and benefits of Sarawakians as a whole.
Well,
Sarawak belongs to Sarawakians and Yes, we are preparing for Sarawak secession
from the fakederation of Malaysia which after all is just the change of name
from Malaya. In short, Malaysia is
Malaya in disguise. But the problem is
that the alliance in power in Sarawak has more or less merged with the alliance
from Malaya for their own good and benefits.
Check who has become the mult-billionaire in the process. Who is in the centre of power? The longer they are in power or holding the
official ranks, the richer they have become.
Let catch and expose them to the eye of the public for scrutiny. We need help from the whole-wide world for
the task.
Are you
ready, dear Sarawakians, to change the 58 year-old government for good and
brighter future for Sarawak as a whole?
Ling Moi Hung
Monday, 1 March 2021
CNA Insider
(https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/fight-save-bangkok-sinking-watery-depths-floods-climate-change-12550382)
The fight to save Bangkok from sinking into watery
depths
A green basin, an
urban farm and a floating home — the programme Insight explores the solutions
being devised to keep climate change and floodwaters at bay in the Thai
capital.
Families in Bangkok
are often faced with floods. But is it a problem with no end in sight?
Bookmark
BANGKOK:
When landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom and her landscape design studio,
Landprocess, created a park in central Bangkok in 2017, it was no ordinary
park.
It was
a green basin to help the city soak up excess water — up to 4.5 million litres
— by funnelling water into underground tanks, for example, and thus reduce
monsoon flooding.
The
4.4-hectare Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park also consists of wetlands,
a rain garden and an underground water drainage system.
“This
public green space … is helping us to collect the water, helping us to create
(cleaner) air, helping us in terms of a healthy space for the citizens,” said
Kotchakorn.
“This
is part of the solution that can be replicated … within the city. That (is), we
need more space to hold the water.”
And
nearly 40 per cent of this low-lying city may be flooded each year by 2030
owing to extreme rainfall and changes in weather patterns, according to the
World Bank.
READ: Meet Thailand's secret weapon in
climate change battle
But as
the programme Insight discovers, there are ways to stop this tourist haven from
sinking, and protect it against the rising tide. (Watch the episode here.)
AGENCIES FOUND WANTING
The
Thai capital, with a population of about 10 million, sits in the Chao Phraya
river delta and is caught between the rising sea level — four millimetres a
year — and land subsidence of up to two centimetres a year.
READ:
Why Manila is at risk of becoming an underwater city
READ:
Why Jakarta is the fastest sinking city in the world
Bangkok’s chief resilience officer,
Supachai Tantikom, explained that the soil underlying the city generally
consists of alternating layers of soft clay and sand. “We don’t have any rock
layers. And there are a lot of aquifers,” he said.
“In
the past, we used a lot of underground water … so this has caused land
subsidence.”
Frequent
flooding resulting in part from climate change has worsened the situation.
Just
an hour south of Bangkok, the once-thriving fishing village of Samut Chin has
already had to move inland several times over the years, owing to coastal
erosion and rising sea levels.
Village
head Wisanu Kengsamut said that despite repeated calls to the government to
address the problem, nothing much had been done. “Regarding the coastal erosion
problems, the government agencies provided very little help in the past,”
complained the 37-year-old.
“Even
now, we don’t receive any significant assistance from them on these issues. Our
community faces the severest problem of coastal erosion in Thailand.”
Some
residents in the country have felt that the government has not done enough to
tackle the problems of flooding since 2011, when Thailand’s worst floods in
half a century resulted in more than 800 deaths nationwide.
In the
capital, floodwaters inundated parts of the city for almost three months. The
severity of the situation caught many residents — and the authorities — off
guard.
Somsak
Meeudomsak, deputy director-general of Bangkok’s Department of Drainage and
Sewerage, said the drainage systems in the provinces were not adequate. “In
Bangkok … our water management system was also not good enough compared to now,”
he added.
THE MONKEY CHEEK CONCEPT
The
problems facing Bangkok have set some people, including Kotchakorn, thinking
how best to resolve them.
The
city used to be known as the Venice of the East because of its canals, but many
of these have been paved over because of urban growth. The rainwater they
channelled has nowhere to go now.
“We
(weren’t) concerned about our natural waterways … (and) how the water would
drain,” said Kotchakorn, who is also the chief executive officer of social
enterprise Porous City Network.
“We
have so many dams upstream, and that’s preventing us (Bangkok) from having
sediments … With less sediments (in the delta), the land can’t grow.”
The
39-year-old also believes that rapid urbanisation has swallowed up the city’s
greenery, leading to a temperature rise.
“Rapid
growth without … really planning to have enough green spaces or natural
elements in the city (has) cost so much in terms of the pollution and the
well-being of people,” she said.
She is pushing for more sustainable development solutions to
combat climate change, including re-introducing nature into the city.
For
example, the Centenary Park serves as a kaem ling (monkey cheek) water-retention
area for the community, like how a monkey holds food in its cheeks until it
needs to eat.
Under normal conditions, water that is not absorbed by plants
flows into the park’s storage system, where it is stored for watering during
dry periods. When floods hit, the
containers hold water and release it after the flooding has subsided.
WATCH: Asia's Sinking Cities: Bangkok (45:58)
Combating floods through design is just one of the many functions of
Kotchakorn’s designs.
ASIA’S BIGGEST ROOFTOP FARM
With
buildings crowding the streets, she has also turned to underutilised spaces to
introduce nature by, for example, creating Asia’s biggest rooftop farm at
Thammasat University.
The 7,000 square metre space mimics rice terraces and can help
to curb some of the impact of climate change, she said.
Prinya
Thaewanarumitkul, the university’s vice-rector for sustainability and
administration, noted that buildings with a green roof will consume less air
conditioning.
“We
need (this) green roof to reduce the use of energy (and) reduce the release of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” he said.
Another architecture firm, Site-Specific, had earlier designed
and built an amphibious house for Thailand’s National Housing Authority to help
fight flooding.
The trial house in nearby Ayutthaya, a province grappling with
floods, has steel pontoons filled with styrofoam, which can lift the house off
the ground if floods occur.
The government has taken other steps to ensure that homes are
flood-proof and that the calamity of 2011 does not recur.
These
flood prevention initiatives include the dredging of canals, improving
Bangkok’s drainage systems and increasing the height of a 77-km flood wall
along the Chao Phraya River.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has also been
building underground “water banks”, or large artesian wells, to retain
rainwater during heavy downpours. Inspired
by a similar project in Japan, these wells will be connected with pipes and
gutters to receive floodwater.
The BMA also launched a programme to replant mangrove forests,
with the target of restoring almost 65 hectares of coastline.
Kotchakorn, however, feels that the city has a long way to go in
resolving its flood problems and rising water levels — and that research has
not necessarily translated into action.
“We
have to be more action-oriented, rather than just keeping all this research on
climate change on the shelf. So the
policymakers or the community have to come together,” she said.
“There’s so much work to be done ... And we need to act faster.”
Bangkok
examines flood prevention plansDec 2011
Shani Wallis, TunnelTalk
Devastating
floods across wide areas of the Bangkok metropolitan area have prompted
engineers and officials in Thailand to address urgently needed programmes and
projects that would mitigate the annual threat and ensure that the city is
prepared to prevent any repeat of this typhoon season's economically and
socially crippling disaster. TunnelTalk Editor, Shani Wallis,
attended a press conference last week in Bangkok at which the tunneling society
of Thailand presented its undergroud proposal for long term flood mitigation
and control.
Bangkok
inundated
Flood water metres deep in the streets
and homes of Bangkok during September, October and November took a heavy toll
on the citizens and the fabric of the city. Incredibly, more than two months
after the first inflows, flood water still lies across low-lying areas of the
city's suburbs with fears of waterborne diseases and families struggling to
salvage what they can of their possessions still the focus of local news
reports.
Struggling now with the aftermath of
the worst floods in the city's recent history, engineers in Thailand have
mobilised to present new infrastructure projects that will prepare the city for
predictable flood events in the future.
Like so many cities that have
implemented comprehensive flood control systems, one of the leading plans that
is gaining political support for Bangkok is based on extensive underground
excavation with multi-purpose functionality possibilities. A plan to excavate a double deck
cut-and-cover facility beneath the existing six to eight-lane Eastern Outer
Ring Road that stretches 100km from the northern suburbs and runs parallel with
the river would deliver floodwater to the Gulf of Thailand.
At times of heavy flooding the entire
24m wide x 10m high cut-and-cover facility would provide a channel for
floodwater. During normal times, the lower deck would remain reserved as a
drainage channel while the upper deck would accommodate another six lanes of
highway traffic to the already heavily congested highway above.
The waters that flooded into vast areas
of the northern suburbs of Bangkok were created by a perfect storm of
circumstances, according to members of TUTG, the Thailand Underground and Tunnelling
Group that will host the World Tunnel Congress (WTC) and 38th General
Assembly of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
(ITA) in May next year (2012).
Underground option gaining traction
as the possible solution for Bangkok
"First,
the heavy rains of two typhoons at the start of the season in August hit the
upper reaches and catchment of the Chao Phraya River," explained Zaw Zaw
Aye, Tunnelling Director of the Thai construction company Seafco and Secretary
General of the WTC organising committee. "After months of no rain, these
were held in the reservoirs which filled very quickly. At that point, another
three typhoons hit the area in quick succession and vast amounts of water had
to be released from the dams. The water
had to come down the Chao Phraya River to the Gulf of Thailand. The problem in the city is that rapid
urbanisation during recent years has seen new housing estates developed on land
that once accommodated traditional rice paddy fields on which the annual flood
waters were welcomed. In addition, urban
flood defences have not kept pace with developments that have blocked many of
Bangkok's klongs, or canals, creating development barriers to Chao Phraya River
flood waters."
When
water released from the dams came down the river it was evident that parts of
the city would flood. As well as the
klongs, Bangkok has flood control defences, including a set of new drainage
tunnels. The first, in the city centre
(5km long x 5m diameter and with a 60m3/sec capacity) is complete; another
is under construction (6km x 5m diameter); and two more are in the planning
stages (the 13.5km x 5m diameter Don Muang tunnel and the 9.5km x 5m diameter
Suan Luang Ro 9 tunnel which will drain an area of 85km2). But these were not able to help Bangkok to
full measure on this occasion.
Extent of the floods around
Bangkok's protected city centre
"The current systems can manage
between 6-10 million m3/day," explained Zaw, "but more
than 11 billion m3/day of water was coming down the river. The city
could only drain a third of it."
City authorities used all existing
systems, including floodgates and the diversion weirs on the klongs, to protect
the city centre, with the surge spreading out in three directions to inundate
the northern, eastern, and western areas. Even Bangkok's new international airport,
opened two years ago on the east side of the city, was not spared. Many had
warned against building the airport on the eastern flood plain.
Through all, Bangkok's metro system,
with some 21km of the 50-60km network underground and the rest elevated, never
shut down. "Some underground station entrances were closed,"
explained Zaw, who worked on the construction of underground sections of the
system, "but the network is designed for a 100-year flood and all, or
most, underground stations have elevated entrances as well as flood doors. I
personally went to see how the flood doors performed in the emergency as I was
involved in the design and installation of several."
As it happened, the metro was the only
reliable method of transport through the wider city, including into the flooded
areas on the elevated sections. "Buses could not operate and most private
cars were out of action or parked on the elevated highways out of harm’s way,
which completely chocked off the highways."
For other underground utility services,
the potable water system was affected initially but was returned quickly to
full service as much of the floodwater was not contaminated. The sewerage
systems backed up and overflowed, a situation that brought with it the threat
of waterborne disease and the liberal use of chlorine as a quick-fix response.
As well as damage to homes, shops and businesses, a visit to Bangkok last week
by TunnelTalk revealed
that even now there are stacks of sandbags on standby in the city centre. Small
walls with stiles over them have been built in front of some smaller shops as a
more permanent protection measure.
There is also still an acute shortage
of food, bottled water and drinks in the shops. There was no flood water to be
seen but reports were of many low-lying areas, some including luxury
residential estates, still remaining under water.
The aftermath of the disaster has
included heavy criticism of Thailand's new Government and its failure to
address the looming crisis, as well as inadequate management of the upstream
reservoirs where officials were caught out completely by the deluge.
The reaction by the Government and City
authorities has been to begin afresh the development of plans to prepare the
city for what engineers know will happen again. The rapid urbanisation of the city and
building on the natural floodways make a repeat of the disaster a certainty
without urgent action. The new network
of 5m diameter drainage tunnels is designed more for stormwater management, not
for a massive surge of water down the river from upstream. Something much more
substantial and of much greater capacity is needed, and tunnelling engineers in
Bangkok have illustrated how underground flood mitigation methods are the only
feasible option.
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Chicago TARP ·
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Tokyo G-CANS ·
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Hong Kong Drainage ·
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Kuala Lumpur SMART ·
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At a press conference last week TunnelTalk joined
the audience to hear of how systems such as Chicago's TARP, Tokyo's tremendous
G-CANS underground flood channels and retention caverns, Hong Kong's major new
flood control tunnelling networks and Kuala Lumpur's innovative dual purpose
Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel (SMART) project, have inspired Thai
engineers to develop their own Multi-Service Underground Tunnel System, or
MUSTS.
Proposed multi-purpose flood
relief project runs beneath the Outer Ring Road, first on the east side and
eventually also on the west side
"The underground addresses several
major issues," said Engineer Professor Dr Suchatchawi Vince Suwannasawat,
Dean of Civil Engineering at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
who is also President of Thailand's TUTG tunnelling society and Congress
Chairman of WTC 2012.
"First it avoids expensive
procurement of private property for new
surface
flood canal options; secondly it limits the impact of what will be a massive
construction operation to the corridor of an existing public highway."
The underground solution also better
allows for gravity-feed of the flood facility towards the sea, a major concern
for surface options that often require large pumping systems or deep cuts. In
operation, the lower deck of the underground facility would have a capacity of
130 million m3/day. This would increase to 260 million m3/day
with both decks of the facility turned to flood control mode.
In addition, the multi-service system
includes the possibility of generating power. Directing water down deep shafts
would create the necessary hydrostatic head needed to operate a turbine
installed in the bottom. Depending on the selected size of the project, between
200-600MW of electricity could be produced by extending the project's
multi-service system application.
At the press conference in Bangkok on
Wednesday last week, Dr Suwannasawat explained that Phase 1 of the project, for
the 100km facility under the East Ring Road, would demand a Government
investment of some 200 billion Thai Baht (US$6.3 billion). He went on to
explain that, set against the estimated 1.4 trillion Baht cost of the current
disaster, the project represents a proposal that should be advanced as soon as
possible. The multi-service functionality of the project also presents the
possibility of imposing tolls on the roadway to raise funding towards its
construction and maintenance. There is also potential for generating
electricity to support its own operating costs.
The project has won early political
backing with Deputy Governor Teerachon Manomaiphilbul of the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration speaking in support of the proposal and urging the
central Government to implement the project stating: "It is a huge
investment and one that I agree with."
Global theme for international congress
In welcoming the 64-member
nations of the ITA to Bangkok in May next year and the anticipated 1,500-2,000
delegates, the TUTG Organising Committee has selected 'Tunnelling and
Underground Space for a Global Society' as its congress theme. The fact that
the host city has suffered the kind of natural disaster that looms large for
many of the world's other major mega-cities will certainly draw extra interest.
Delegates will be interested to hear
first hand reports of how the disaster happened, how the city coped and more
importantly how the Government, authorities and engineers plan to prepare the
Bangkok to avoid similar disasters in future.
MUSTS includes the potential for
generating electricity
The
experience will profile significantly also in the Congress Open Session,
organised by ITACUS, the ITA Committee on Underground Space that is examining
the development of resilient cities over the course of the next three years.
Launched
this year at the WTC2010 in Helsinki in May, the theme of Delivering Better and
Resilient Cities discussed in Finland, continues in Bangkok in May 2012 where
the forum will centre on Planning Better and Resilient Cities, before moving to
Geneva in 2013 where delegates will close the series with a discussion on
Deciding Better and Resilient Cities. A
special one-day registration is offered for delegates who would like to join
the Open Session as a stand alone event rather than the full tunnelling
congress programme. There is much to
consider and develop on this wide ranging and vital topic and Bangkok's recent
flood experience makes it a most appropriate venue for hosting the discussion
in May 2012. A welcome and invitation to
attend is extended to all from the TUTG Organising Committee.
References
Helsinki WTC2011 Congress video
report - TunnelCast, May
2011
Brisbane averts underground works
inundation - TunnelTalk, Jan
2011
Concerns and consequences of
seismic devastation - TunnelTalk, March
2011
Santiago Metro survives massive
earthquake - TunnelTalk, March
2010