Aerial view of workers at the sinkhole in Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur. An Indian tourist fell into the 8m hole on Aug 23 and her body has not been recovered. — Photos: Filepic
CAN a Common Utility Tunnel (CUT) system, similar to the one in Putrajaya, prevent incidents like the recent tragedy where an Indian national was swallowed by a sinkhole in Jalan Masjid India?
Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif believes such a system could improve underground utility maintenance and prevent similar accidents in the future, but its feasibility hinges on careful planning and cost considerations.
“From an engineering standpoint, it’s possible, but the challenge lies in retrofitting such a system into a dense, built-up urban area,” she told StarMetro when asked about the feasibility of building an underground tunnel for utilities and cables beneath Kuala Lumpur.
“The CUT system, like the one in Putrajaya, is feasible for improving underground utility maintenance.
“I have seen this in Japan, where there are miles and miles of utility and fibre-optic cables running underneath cities like Tokyo, but these were constructed decades ago.
“In Kuala Lumpur, this could be considered for newer developments where there is still space to plan something like it,” she said.
Previously, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa had told Parliament that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) was urged to consider building a common utility system similar to Putrajaya’s to improve efficiency of the city’s underground utility system.
She added that the system could also be integrated with the city’s control centre using telemetry technology for safety and monitoring.
Maimunah, a trained urban planner, said Putrajaya was a greenfield area, making it suitable for underground tunnelling projects, as it offered flexibility and reduced risk of disrupting existing infrastructure.
Putrajaya’s Common Utility Trench houses a mass of TNB, multimedia, telecommunication and fibre-optic cables, as well as Air Selangor, Gas Malaysia and chilled water pipes.
“But Kuala Lumpur, being predominantly a brownfield area, is less suitable, though not impossible from an engineering perspective,” she said.
(Brownfield sites are typically located in urban areas because they have previously been built upon, while greenfield sites have never been built on and can be found in the countryside or rural areas.)
Putrajaya’s underground utility system was constructed between 1999 and 2006 at a cost of RM250mil.
Located 3m beneath the core island, it spans 10.8km across Precincts 2, 3 and 4 and serves as the nerve centre for utility companies and service providers, exclusively supporting ministries and government buildings.
It comprises a network of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) cables, Air Selangor and Gas Malaysia pipes, and multimedia and telecommunication fibre-optic cables, all neatly arranged.
On the status of the utility mapping task force study following the Jalan Masjid India incident, Maimunah said the report would be ready by the end of the year.
“But if utility companies had been unwilling to share their data before, the Jalan Masjid India incident has opened everyone’s eyes, and now all parties are willing to help and share information.
“We have RM10mil allocated under Budget 2025 to conduct the utility mapping study, which will cover the Jalan Masjid India area and the CBD (central business district),” she said.
In the Aug 23 incident, an Indian tourist, Vijayalakshmi Gali, fell into a 8m sinkhole. Her body has not been recovered. — By BAVANI M
