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PETALING JAYA: The Ministry of Public Works has promised to repair potholes on federal highways within 24 hours of receiving a complaint, as the issue of road maintenance in Malaysia continues to be parodied.
The ministry said that under the Zeropothole Campaign, pothole patching or temporary repairs to federal highways will take place within 24 hours, while permanent repairs will take place in three days under the “Federal Highway Maintenance” contract.
In a statement yesterday, he said that the campaign that ran from 2016 to 2018 was reintroduced in July as an initiative of the ministry with the Department of Public Works (JKR) and six concessionaires for the maintenance of federal highways.
“The bumps refer to holes with widths from less than 200 mm to 1000 mm. If the width of the hole is less than 200mm, it does not involve any cutting and will be repaired.
“When the hole width is up to 1,000mm, it will be necessary to cut the part of the road before repairing it,” he said, adding that holes with a width of more than 1,000mm will be treated as “pavement failure.”
The ministry added that through the 2021 Budget, the government had allocated RM100,000 for the implementation of “weight in motion” devices on identified federal highways.
The ministry said it will work with the Ministry of Transportation to ensure that road surfaces are not quickly damaged due to overloading of vehicles.
Saying that it takes the safety of road users seriously, the Ministry of Public Works said that the road network in Malaysia is 254,477,563 km in length.
It added that it had allocated 1.09 billion ringgit for the maintenance of federal highways across the country, which included electricity bills, traffic lights and streetlights.
For the maintenance of state roads under JKR, the allocation comes from the state government through the Malaysian Highway Records Information System (Marris).
The allocation for Marris, the ministry said, increases up to 20% or RM50,000, whichever is less.
“To ensure that federal and state highway assets are always in good condition, JKR makes every effort to ensure that these highways are managed in accordance with engineering practices without neglecting the public interest,” he said.
The ministry also added that as of November 30 they had received 4,091 complaints in the public infrastructure category, with 1,473 for damaged roads.
He added that based on JKR monitoring, they had detected and repaired almost 200,000 holes in the roads, while during the first half of this year a total of 64,000 holes had been repaired.
“The ministry is always committed to ensuring that all complaints received are resolved promptly regardless of the status of the complainant, and also adopts a ‘No Wrong Door Policy’ for the benefit and well-being of the people,” he said.
On Sunday, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin, hit a pothole and crashed during a bicycle trip in Banting, Selangor.
Khairy tweeted a photo of her bruised face with minor scratches, saying she fell after hitting a pothole while biking through Kampung Seri Cheeding, and the incident prompted Kuala Langat JKR to issue an apology about five hours later.
Frustrated Malaysians took to social media to question whether a similar apology would be extended if they were the ones injured.
Others quickly followed suit, posting videos, images and memes of potholes and rough roads to highlight the problem.
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