Metro

Tuesday November 3, 2009

Road caves in, none hurt

By TAN SIN CHOW


A STRETCH of road leading to the Penang War Museum in Batu Maung collapsed by at least 7m, causing one lane of the affected 15m stretch to be closed to traffic.

Nobody was injured when the incident occurred about 10pm on Sunday.

However, hundreds of tourists and students who came in buses had to walk for at least 1km before they could reach the entrance of the museum due to the collapse.

Johari showing the danger posed by the collapsed road.

Penang War Museum Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Johari Shafie alleged that the landslide was caused by a nearby property development.

He also claimed there were illegal land and trees clearing to make way for the project.

Johari said he had earlier alerted the relevant authorities about two months ago after noticing cracks on the road shoulders.

“However, there was no re-sponse,” he said, adding that he had lodged a police report over the incident.

Johari said his complaints were sent to the state Public Works Department (PWD), the southwest district land office and Penang Municipal Coun- cil.

Batu Maung assemblyman Abdul Malik Abul Kassim said he was aware of the problem, adding that remedial work was being carried out by the council and PWD.

The museum is situated at the hill in Batu Maung and its exhibits trace the history of World War II in Malaysia.

Located on a sprawling 8ha piece of land, visitors can view cannons, armaments, survival kits used by soldiers as well as underground installations such as pillboxes, tunnels, ven-tilation shafts and other war relics.

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