Sustainable assessment of operational non-tolled roads in Malaysia using pH JKR rating tool

Abstract

The construction industry is a vital sector that affects sustainability and is a major contributor to economic growth. Therefore, it needs to be regulated carefully to balance out the Triple Bottom Line. This is even more pronounced for the infrastructure sector which covers substantial swathes of land and spans throughout regions. Roads rank top most among infrastructure development and yet sustainability assessment for roads still lag behind those of buildings. Globally, there are a few rating tools that have been developed exclusively for roads, and in Malaysia, MyGHI and pH JKR are applied. The former has been developed by The Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) to assess highways which are nominally closed access tolled roads. pH JKR was developed in 2012 by the Malaysian Public Works Department to assess non-tolled roads. Despite this, the assessment is only mandatory for new projects valued at RM50 million and above, federal roads and siting at environmentally sensitive areas. This proves a large setback as the state road coverage makes up more than 90% of the road network in Malaysia. Another deficiency is that rating is only done for projects during the planning, design and construction stage with no emphasis on the operational stage of the road. With this said, it will be necessary to develop a rating tool that not only is applicable to all road hierarchies, but also assesses the sustainability of the already operational road networks. pH JKR is identified as a suitable rating tool that can be modified to serve this purpose. This study aims to determine the pH JKR criteria that are relevant for operational non-tolled roads in developing sustainability rating tools. A literature review was carried out to determine the sustainability criteria that are common in road sustainability rating tools. Subsequently, current operational non-tolled roads that have not been previously assessed was evaluated using pH JKR to identify the sub-criteria that is already prevalent. Lastly, a focus group discussion was conducted consisting of experts from road concessionaires, public and private sector personnel in road development and operation to identify the pH JKR criteria that are relevant for current operational nontolled roads. The accumulated data was subjected to a factor loading and the applicable sub-criteria was then ranked. From the comparison done among other sustainability rating tools and pH JKR, it was found that pH JKR is a suitable platform for increasing the road hierarchies that can implement it. It is also noted that pH JKR may need improvements if it is to include operations. From the 21 projects evaluated, out of the 80 sub-criteria, only 24 sub-criteria scored a frequency of 50% or more. Following the focus group discussion, these 24 sub-criteria were further narrowed down to only 12 that were deemed relevant in the operational phase. This study will help to pave the way in modifying the current pH JKR or establishing sustainability rating tools that encompass all road hierarchy in the operational stage.