Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel or SMART put Malaysia on the world map as a civil engineering achievement when it received the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award 2010 — Design & Construction by the Institution of Engineers of Malaysia (IEM).
SMART holds the record for being the largest tunnel in South-East Asia and measures 13.2m in diameter and is the second largest tunnel in Asia.
The tunnel-boring machine (TBM) used in its construction was also the fourth largest in the world.
MMC-Gamuda director Datuk Azmi Mat Nor said the award marked another milestone for them.
Different scope: An aerial view of the Penchala tunnel.
The SMART Tunnel team had to compete with other big projects like the transportation hub in Shanghai and the towers in Japan for the award.
He said not many people were aware of the SMART Tunnel’s unique dual feature.
“The dual purpose nature of the tunnel has been proven with 35,000 motorists using it and Kuala Lumpur has been saved from seven major storms so far.
“The financing for the project also came from two sources — the government sector (stormwater management) and the private sector (motorway),” he said.
He said the company did not want the skills acquired by the professionals to be forgotten so some were sent elsewhere to expand their knowledge.
“If there was another similar project, we do not need any experts as they are all here and we can take on any challenge,” he said.
Gamuda engineers (from left) Ng Hau Wei, Salehuddin Md Shaarani, Chew Wee Hwang and Alvin Goh were the backbone of the Malaysian team involved in making the SMART Tunnel (below) a reality.
As many as 200 Malaysian tunnel engineers worked in the SMART Tunnel in various fields like tunnel engineering design, geotechnical engineering, mechanical & electrical engineering, civil engineering, construction managers, surveyors, supervisors and foremen.
Apart from the SMART Tunnel, Gamuda also handled the electrified double-track project railway with the Berapit and Larut tunnels, the New Doha International Airport, the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit system in Taiwan, the Penchala Link and the Sungai Selangor Dam tunnel.
Gamuda deputy managing director Yeoh Hin kok said the electrified double-track work was 40% complete while the Doha aiport work had been extended to next year as additional tasks had been given.
“Tunnel-building is a niche market and, on the pay structure, we also have the advantage in terms on bidding.
“There are only a few companies that do tunnelling work and we have the necessary in-house expertise,” he said.
The young engineers involved in the SMART project have also come far since the construction of the tunnel.
Project manager Alvin Goh, who has been with Gamuda for 10 years, started his work with the SMART Tunnel.
The experience gave him a hunger for more challenging tunnels.
“When the SMART Tunnel was constructed, it was the first of its kind.
“We had to design the gantry shape to bring in the raw materials and how to work,” he said.
Goh said they needed specialised equipment to customise settings according to the job specs.
Tunnel manager Ng Hau Wei started as a mechanical engineer and later applied his knowledge while working on the SMART Tunnel.
He said any engineering skill could be the base of what you gained from the work.
“I was involved in the assembling of the TBM and roped in as shift manager fro the TBM engineers,” he said.
Ng was one of the few sent to Germany for a three-month stint as part of the human capital development programme.
