INGENIEUR
1. Exposure to unconventional analyses and
new design methodologies by working
together with various local and international
consultants and specialists (e.g. Building
Information Modelling (BIM), risk planning
and mitigation, specialised designs such
as tunnels, mine adits, deep underground
stations, systems, etc).
2. Developing new design methodologies and
design criteria for the type of infrastructure
that is not commonly found in Malaysia, at
the same time assimilating international
practices to suit local conditions and
practices (e.g. develop specifications and
design requirements for MRT, high speed
train, etc.).
3. Ability to design and specify materials, type
of machinery, tools and equipment that
are readily available in Malaysia to reduce
reliance on importing them from overseas
while attempting to design a construction
methodology that is possible for local
contractors to carry out.
The challenges for the PEPC who are
responsible and liable for the design and
supervision include the following:
1. Occasionally, there are no Malaysian
Standards or Code of Practices available
for the analyses and designs that need
to be carried out for these mega projects.
Therefore, reliance and reference to
international standards, guidelines, or code
of practices (e.g. tunnel lining design, deep
excavation in urban area combined with
tunnelling, railway embankment for high
speed train, etc.) is common. This poses
a big challenge and liability to the PEPC if
there are any non-performance issues or
failures in the design.
2. There are limited local case histories or
experience available for analyses and
design. Therefore, if any design challenges
or problems arise, the PEPC has to carry out
extensive literature review of journals and
technical papers published in international
conferences and seminars. Advice and
review by international specialists in this
field greatly benefits this situation.
3. Additional effort is required to assimilate
and evolve the international practices with
local practices and to develop customised
methodologies to suit local conditions. This
effort is tedious but improves the knowledge
and skill set of the PEPC. In addition it
exposes the PEPC to latest international
practices. This is very important to further
advance the engineering know-how of the
Malaysian engineering fraternity.
Development of Systematic Analyses and
Design Processes
For the engineering consultancy firm employed
by the contractor to carry out analyses, designs,
endorsements and supervision of engineering work
for mega infrastructure projects under design and
build (D&B) or turnkey contract, it is imperative that
the key objectives listed below are achieved: -
1. Safe design (e.g. no failures),
2. Technically suitable (e.g. best engineering
solution possible),
3. Cost-effective (e.g. minimal wastages of
resources or no over-conservative design),
4. Construction-friendly (e.g. able to construct
without difficulty following good engineering
practices),
5. Minimal and ease of maintenance in the
long term (e.g. to reduce the cost and effort
required for long-term maintenance which
if not under control, may make the project
a cost liability to the operation or even the
country),
6. Timely delivery of design for construction
(e.g. no delays in design to ensure no
delays in starting construction),
7. Construction is carried out in line with the
design intent (e.g. with good co-ordination
between contractor, consultant and
supervision team).
The human resources (e.g. specialists,
engineers, BIM operators, etc.) involved in
the analyses and designs are huge, ranging
from project leaders, design managers, design
engineers and BIM/drafting team. The whole team
may total up to 50 to 200 personnel, depending
on the scale and scope of works. Therefore, it is
important to have a systematic plan, streamlined
analyses and design processes that ensure
consistency, repeatability and efficiency.
22 VOL 81 JANUARY-MARCH 2020