It’s unsexy government work, but city maintenance is vital

An aerial view of the widened sinkhole in the Masjid India area as Fire and Rescue personnel searched for the victim. The search was called off on Sept 1, no body was found. — SHAARI CHEMAT/ THESTAR

The tragic case of a tourist disappearing into a sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur’s Masjid India area on Aug 23, 2024, has shown that Malaysia needs to pay just as much attention to what is going on below ground as above ground in our cities.

In a city of constant construction and rapidly changing skylines, and one sited in a valley at that, we need to consider the impact of infrastructure below ground, particularly in terms of drainage and stability.

Evidently, deeper issues lurk below, including a mess of ageing and deteriorating drainage systems. Leaking or broken water pipes, or damaged sewer pipes, can loosen soil and create hollow spaces, leading to sinking ground. That’s why sinkholes, land subsidence, and landslides occur fairly regularly.

“This is a repeating problem. Look at the history – every few years, a sinkhole happens,” says Dr Goh Thian Lai, an expert in engineering and environmental geology from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He says that the issue has now grabbed attention because a life has been lost, but it is not actually new.

For example, a burst water pipe caused a massive 10m-deep sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle area in 2014, while in 2019, a leaking pipe led to a large sinkhole on Jalan Maharajalela that a car fell into. Goh says leaking water pipes have also caused slope failure by weakening hillsides.

Worse, the problem is set to continue, given our ageing drainage systems and activities such as tunnelling, warns Goh, the president of Malaysia’s Society for Engineering Geology and Rock Mechanics.

Some have attributed the sinkholes to natural factors such as rain and limestone. These can be exacerbating factors, but the problem here is essentially “human-induced”, Goh says, adding that Masjid India is not underlain by limestone.

Rubbish blocking pipes can also compound the problem. During the search and rescue operation for the missing woman, divers were blocked by a 15m-long obstruction in the sewage channel made up of “hard blockages” from solidified fat, bottles, tyres, hair, and other rubbish.

“The lesson here is that the culture of maintenance is very poor,” says former MP Charles Santiago, who is president of the National Water Services Commission, which works to improve the country’s water supply and sewerage services.

“We can all learn from this. People are throwing rubbish in the drains, and the drains are also not maintained.”

He also questions the impact of so much development in and around Masjid India, and calls for urban planning to be updated, alongside improving Malaysia’s infamously lacklustre maintenance culture.

He also points out that plans of works done need to be easily accessible for future reference.

Rather than reactive responses, we need lasting solutions. Goh says utility planning in Malaysia is short-term and ad hoc. One long-term solution would be to have common utility trenching, as some countries do, where multiple utilities (water, sewage, electricity, and telecoms) use the same trench or tunnel. This lowers costs, enables better planning, and better protects pipes – it’s not uncommon for pipes to get damaged by drilling to lay new cables.

“We do have some trenches but not for common use. Everyone is doing their own trench. So it can be very difficult to replace old pipes,” Goh explains.

The replacement of ageing water pipes is a massive issue in itself, with tens of thousands of kilometres of pipes way past their lifespan. Some pipes are decades old, and about 30% are made of asbestos cement, which is potentially hazardous and banned in many countries. Old pipes leak, they break, they waste water, and cost the country billions of ringgit.

Water loss in “non-revenue water (NRW)” – which is mostly from water leaks – cost RM8bil from 2018 to 2022, Santiago says.

The national NRW average is 37%, which is about three times as much as some developed countries. In some states, NRW is as high as around 60%.

The cost per kilometre of pipe replacement is a whopping RM1mil. That’s why some experts opt for remedial work on pipes, using technology to detect leaks.

But Santiago says in the long run, we need to take an asset management approach. By carefully addressing NRW, we can avoid having to build new treatment plants. But it must be done with smart metering, which can detect water movement in pipes and prevent water theft.

Improving our utility infrastructure is hardly an attractive task for governments, since the public doesn’t “see” the benefits. But ignoring it will be to our peril. Climate change will also further strain our water resources.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is currently conducting utility mapping and working to identify areas susceptible to sinkholes. Santiago calls for DBKL to issue a public report on the integrity audit of buildings and pavements. “The government has to proactively address the concerns of people,” he says.

Kuala Lumpur has developed enormously in recent decades, and even has some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. It’s now time that we focus on our infrastructure below ground, and work to care and repair our utility systems.

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Human Writes columnist Mangai Balasegaram writes mostly on health but also delves into anything on being human. She has worked with international public health bodies and has a Masters in public health. Write to her at [e-mail]. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.