IPOH: A total of 65km of selected roads nationwide have been chosen for a new road resurfacing method using rubber.
Malaysian Rubber Board engineering design and product development unit chief Dr Nazirah Ahmad said the method is known as “cup lump modified asphalt”, or CMA.
She said the technology is a new road paving method using modified bitumen, with a mixture involving coagulated ( or “cup lump”) rubber that improves the quality of resurfacing.
“We have received an allocation of RM50mil this year from the Finance Ministry to implement the project.
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“Several areas in Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Perak have started using this technology for road resurfacing,” she told reporters Wednesday (Nov 22) after Ipoh mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin visited the industrial site in Tasek near here where the road is being resurfaced using this method.
Dr Nazirah said the use of such technology would also help small rubber farmers earn more.
“Most importantly, such a method helps reduce long-term maintenance costs compared to conventional paving methods,” she added.
Earlier, Rumaizi told reporters that in Malaysia, the Ipoh City Council was the first to use this method to resurface industrial roads.
He said in other states, such resurfacing was conducted on federal roads.
“Under the jurisdiction of the council, 70% of the resurfacing (using CMA) is carried out in industrial areas, where the council received many complaints about the condition of the roads.
“A 9.5km stretch involving part of the Tasek Industrial Area, IGB Industrial Area, part of Jalan Bendahara and the main road at Station 18 will be resurfaced using this method,” he added.
Rumaizi said road paving works on the above areas started on Wednesday and is expected to take between four and six weeks.
He also said the council would be asking for more allocation next year to resurface other roads within its jurisdiction.
