THE Penang government has set up a special committee to investigate the landslide in Paya Terubong that killed nine foreign workers last Friday, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said.

The committee, which is not a commission of inquiry, will determine what happened at the road construction site and identify the parties responsible, if any.

If the committee finds elements of negligence in the incident, it will refer the findings to the respective professional bodies, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister I Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman, who is a civil engineer by training, will head the committee. Other members include state Public Works Executive Councillor Zairil Khir Johari and an engineer from the state secretary’s office, who will be appointed later.

The committee will also decide other parties that can join the probe, like the Penang Institute of Engineers or the Board of Engineers Malaysia, Chow said.

However, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) will not be part of the committee as it is the owner of the road project, he said.

“This morning, the state exco received the preliminary report on the landslide and another written report from the Drainage and Irrigation Department on the Ops Lumpur task force’s findings at the construction site before the landslide.

“The reports have shown that there were elements of non-compliance in work procedures in the project. So, the exco has decided to form the special committee.

“It is also timely to set up the committee now since the search and recovery operation ended yesterday evening. We hope the committee can get to work as soon as possible,” he told a press conference at Komtar today.

Chow also said the probe by the special committee is in addition to other ongoing investigations by agencies such as the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

“The committee’s probe will not interfere with DOSH and CIDB’s probe.”

Last Friday’s landslide at the Paya Terubong pair road construction site killed nine foreign workers, while four were hurt.

There was no work going on at the site during the time of the incident, as the contractor was earlier issued a stop-work order over an earlier accident involving collapsed beams at a different section of the project.

Since the tragedy, it was revealed that the contractor had failed to comply with erosion and sedimentation control plan. This was discovered by the Ops Lumpur task force under Zairil’s office more than a week before the landslide.

The city council also reported that the contractor had cut off a natural water source on the hill where the landslide happened, without properly diverting the water flow.

Yesterday, a soil and landslide expert from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Professor Habibah Lateh, said sandy soil unsuitable for the hillslope project had been used at the site. – October 24, 2018.