Sustainability criteria for road maintenance work in Malaysia using pHJKR rating tool

Abstract

Construction of roads in Malaysia has begun since before independence in 1957. After the country gained independence, the road system has been improved through rapid development planning every five years which launched by the government (Malaysia Plan). The meaning of Federal roads category is all roads declared under the Federal Roads Ordinance (1959). In addition, the federal road also comprises of the major interurban roads joining the state capitals and roads leading to points of entry to and exit from the country. State roads generally categorized as the primary roads in the state area and providing intra-state travel between the district administrative centers. Sustainability for road projects can be defined as concept integrates the economic, societal and environmental aspects which the road projectability to meet our needs without compromising the ability of the next generations to meet theirs. In Malaysia, it is generally found sustainable were evaluated based on planning, design and construction stage and the most commonly used tools are pHJKR. Sustainability of road has not been re-assess after the project defect liability period ends. Referring to a concession maintenance contract, there is no clear indication of the responsibility of concession companies to the compliance of sustainable criteria of the certified roads. No specified tool to measurement on the maintenance of roads in order to assess and evaluate the sustainable elements compliance. There are needs to create its own original criteria based on local conditions. The objective of this study is to identify the current implementation of pHJKR (Road), to identify existing sustainable criteria based on pHJKR that can be used during maintenance phase road in Malaysia and propose a comprehensive sustainable pHJKR criteria for the maintenance phase. The main methods will be used in this research is quantitative and observation. The qualitative methods are concerned to identify and examine the issues governance, applicability of sustainable in road maintenance in Malaysia. Under the qualitative methods, case study, interview, and questionnaire survey will be used. A result of this study presented current maintenance practice in Malaysia and provided a list of sustainable criteria and sub-criteria for the maintenance phase with modifications of assessment criteria.