The long road to sustainable tunnelling works in the Malaysian construction industry: the past, present and future

Abstract

Today, the greater part of the total population is living in urban areas, where the figure will scale in all respects rapidly to accomplish 60.4% in 2030, leading to scenario where urban communities are progressively blocked and stuffed. The rapid development in urban zone to address human issues are therefore observed to be unparallel with the rule of sustainable development. Moreover, the highly demanded space with extraordinary weight for residential and infrastructure will result in high-profile environmental issues. To tackle this compacted space, Malaysia has fully utilised the underground space, beginning with the foundation of shop parts underneath the Merdeka Square in 2003, at that point pursued by Petronas Twin Towers, Light Rail Transit (LRT), Storm water Management and Road Tunnel (SMART), and the latest is a progressive undertaking of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). Looking on decidedly for the underground improvement for foundation, this paper aims at appraising the past, present and future utilisation of underground space via sustainable tunnelling works in Malaysia by exploring the level of awareness of 144 construction stakeholders in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor through structured questionnaire survey. The investigation attempts to have an insight towards sustainable tunnelling works and a way forward to incorporate sustainability with the complex projects such as tunnelling projects in the Malaysian construction industry.