SMART Project (5)

"Water seepage is common in any project if it is below the water table…”

I’m no civil engineer, and know nuts about longkang and stuff, so perhaps I had to take it as it is, that anything we build, cracks and water leakages are to be expected (even expect later to pay for more just to find out what went wrong before fixing it). But…

"...If motorists don’t think the road is safe, don’t use it. If they think the motorway can help them avoid congested stretches in the city and they think that the road is safe, pay the toll and use it,”

This sounds bloody arrogant to me.

Then one day it was quoted that it cost RM1.9b to build it and before you can say “BLINK” it’s now RM2.1b. One day earlier it was supposed to divert 90% of the floodwater and the next day someone else announced that it will only deal with 45% without even blinking his eyes.

So will you be surprised if KL were to flood again?

The only promise they keep so far is the Toll Collection. They even promised to increase again in 3 years’ time!

-hs

Heart Sick (8)

I can remember that fateful day vividly; it was Sunday, July 30.

Just before lunch my mobile rang with an unfamiliar number shown on the screen. It turned out to be Dr Pau… “I have a patient who’s not ready for tomorrow’s surgery, if you come in to the hospital today, I can operate on you tomorrow!”, he sounded so casual, like making an appointment with the barber. My heart sank, my appetite for lunch gone, my head gone blank, I was desperately looking for an excuse just to delay this (I wasn’t ready!) but nothing came out…

Ready or not, I finally realized I had to go through this. Packed with some cloths and my tooth brush, and I was at the IJN at about 5pm. It was a Sunday and the registration counter was closed by 3pm; I was directed to register at the Emergency Dept (that didn’t help in calming me). Then they had problems finding me a room as all were occupied (oh this didn’t help either). After some hassles (“try checking if the one reserved for Tun is available?”), finally they found me a place in the paediatric ward. Yes a room with bright colored walls complete with a Mickey Mouse clock! I wasn’t complaining; it helped picking me up from the gloomy and anxious moods.

The rooms and conditions in the hospital was so much better than I had expected in a typical government hospital (privatized or not). Nurses were friendly (no more like those ‘Missies’ in the GH when I was a kid)!

It was a very busy evening for me. As soon as I had checked into the room, I was whisked away for blood samples, blood pressure, ECG, Echo, etc. Then there were briefings on my surgery by one of the surgeons and the anesthetist respectively; they explained their roles and what they were going to do to me and gave me an idea what to expect before, during and after the surgery (“you’ll find a tube coming out from your throat as soon as you wake up. That’s from a ventilator which helps you to breath and you’ll be unable to talk. And there are some other tubes…“). A video about the Do’s & Don’t’s and Before & After of a heart surgery was screened before they call it a day.

By 10pm, before bed, I was given some pills (one of them supposed to calm me down and help me sleep better) and a bottle of antiseptic shower shampoo for the morning shower.

This was my Day #1. Tomorrow's the BIG day.

(Oh yes, they served curry chicken for dinner!)

I was very worried and anxious, like I was to go for war the next morning. But after awhile I was amazingly calm and slept quite well.

-hs

To Hell They Go

No Dignity
No Respect
No Integrity
No Intelligence
No Morality
No Shame

Do something really STUPID, DENY it, DENY it AGAIN, say a ‘CONDITIONAL SORRY’, then let’s the world FORGET it!!

That’s those fellas wearing monkey suits enjoying themselves in the parliament, who call themselves ‘law makers’ and ‘peoples’ representatives’. Someone please tell him.

-hs

SMART Project (4)

So now they found pool of water in the middle of the tunnel? I'm sure they'll say it's nothing to worry about, probably just one of those leakages either from the roof (!?) or toilets... teething problems-lah... and it must be somebody else's faults. hmmm...

-hs

SMART Project (3)

It’s finally opened for traffic on May 14 – just over 1 month off the targeted date. I think that’s quite ok.

I took advantage of the ‘one month toll-free’ period and tried out the tunnel. Perhaps it was due to the earlier hypes of the media and publicity and my expectations set a little too high, the experience was a bit of disappointment to me; low ceiling, narrow, twisty, dim, grayish… couldn’t help but had this feel of claustrophobia. Digging the tunnel and all that may cost RM1.9b but I’m no engineer so I’d expect something more cangih, at least visually?

Never mind my opinion, anyway. It may not really that important to look pretty. But do I see if it has served it purposes? The road surface above the tunnel around Jalan Tun Razak is still filled with potholes; the manholes with protruding covers they intentionally placed in the middle of the roads look like a permanent features to me and traffic is still as bad.

SMART Tunnel entrance on Jun 11

Now that even the toll rate has been decided at RM2 a pop (even a raise forecast has already been worked out!) and the cash registers are ready to sing 11.59pm tonight, cars are still queuing bumper-to-bumper outside the tunnel and the rain on last Sunday didn’t help either. Although someone said it would have been just another rainy day if the tunnel were in full operation, I can only say ‘we’ll wait and see-lah’. It’s not tested yet. Just look at what they said about it easing the traffic earlier.

It's raining in KL.

Just another rainy day

All pictures taken from The Star Online.

-hs

A Fairy Tale

Lately there are quite a few ‘event of the year’ stuff going on, and most of them of course are plain stupid and jokes of many years to come. That made me thought of this guy Hans Christian Andersen, who since 1837 had already seen such fools and even wrote a story about it back then. Unfortunately there are obviously many more that have yet to read it…

Who dared to tell the King he's naked?

-HS