ROAD maintenance contractors in Selangor will have to ensure any reported pothole is repaired within 24 hours, under new guidelines to be implemented by the state government.
State Infrastructure and Public Facilities Committee chairman Zaidy Abdul Talib said concessionaires would soon have to patch up every pothole in the areas under their care and the excuse of low funds would not be accepted.
“In the past, concessionaires only patched up potholes based on a budget but now they have to patch up every pothole” he said.
Zaidy said the current concession ends on Dec 31 and the bidding process for new five-year agreements had begun.
“This way if one of the concessionaires fail to fix the potholes, we can pass the task to the other two” he said.
He said the errant company would be served a Notice to Correct, and if they failed to address the problem, their agreement could be cancelled.
He said this during the launch of a new premix to repair potholes, called the Cold-mix Carboncor, at the Gombak Public Works Department (JKR) in Bandar Baru Selayang.
StarMetro highlighted the decision to use the technology in its front-page story “No more bumpy rides” on Monday.
The new technology uses water to bind the premix, making it easier to resurface the road during rainy season.
According to industry experts, the water bind will also ensure that the rain does not damage the roads as is the problem with the current type of premix.
The launch was also attended by JKR Selangor director Datuk Hamizan Mohd Inzan, Gombak district officer Ahmad Suaidi Abd Rahim and Subang Jaya Municipal Council president Datuk Nor Hisham Dahlan.
Zaidy said that with the reduced number of potholes, they hoped to see fewer accidents.
“For next year, the state government has allocated RM373mil to JKR Selangor to improve the infrastructure, and from this, 52% (RM196mil) has been allocated for maintenance and repair of roads” he said.
During the launch, officers from related government agencies as well as local councils were given a demonstration on the Cold-Mix Carboncor.
Hamizan said JKR was still conducting tests and comparisons with other Cold-Mix brands as well for road resurfacing works.
Nor Hisham said MPSJ had ordered 300 bags to patch potholes in Puchong, to test its durability.
“We do not want to wait, we will test it out immediately and monitor it for a month. If this works, we will load it up in the lorries and drive around looking for potholes to fix” he added.
The Cold Mix Carboncor was used in a pilot project in Klang on June 25 and tested for three months, for which the state government had allocated a budget of RM450,000.
The Cold Mix is estimated to save up to 25% for resurfacing existing premix roads, 32% for new medium-to-high traffic urban roads and 40% for medium-to-high traffic rural roads.
The test was conducted along Jalan Sungai Jati from KM1.80 to KM2.61 heading towards the Jalan Raja Nong intersection in Klang.