The route across the Malay peninsula: After the second 35 km section of the new highway is completed from Pos Slim to Kampung Raja, passing close to the beautiful Cameron Highlands holiday area, six more phases of the project will be built to complete the 333 km-long east-west route. >> click to enlarge

USD 405 million
super highway

Malaysia's USD 405 million super highway, some 333 km long and climbing to an altitude of nearly 1,500 metres, will become the country's third road across the country to connect the east and west sides of the peninsula.

The new link between Simpang Pulai in the west to Kuala Berang in the east will stimulate development in remote areas of the country and give access to the isolated mountain terrain and deep forests which are the home of wildlife and rare plants.

Construction of the road is divided into eight sections. The first section is complete and the second 35-km stretch is currently being built with the help of Atlas Copco equipment. It stretches from Pos Slim in the Perak region to Kampung Raja in Pahang, where it passes close to the Cameron Highlands holiday area and a region famous for producing the best tea in the country.

Fong Mook Seong & Sons is the contractor carrying out drilling, blasting and crushing operations with the help of three Atlas Copco hydraulic surface crawler drill rigs - a ROC 742 unit and two ROC 642 machines.

High performance

The drill rigs are putting up first-class performances and Mr G. L. Fong, a director of the contracting company, says: "The Atlas Copco drill rigs are very well suited to such a widespread job site. At the same time, they are productive without sacrificing anything on the economy of the drilling accessories."

In readiness for the third phase of the highway, the contractor SAROMA Engineering has already mobilised a ROC 742-01 unit from its fleet of ROC rigs. The company's Project Manager, Mr Phang Kang Ngen, says the machine has demonstrated that it is ideally suited to civil engineering contracting work such as dam and road development.

The company has also purchased a new state-of-the-art "Power Generation" ROC D7 drill rig from Atlas Copco and Mr Ngen has high praise for its excellent performance.

On site in Malaysia: Atlas Copco ROC surface crawler drill rigs working in the highlands on the second stage of the USD 405 million highway.

He says: "Not only is it economical in its consumption of drilling accessories, its high availability and dependability in tackling the many different demands of road construction is extremely impressive - especially in a tropical country like this, with its heavy rainfall."

Work on the current stretch of road, which has up to four lanes and a maximum width of 20 metres, involves a 50 mm sub-grade overlaid with a 300 mm thick base, a 60 mm asphaltic concrete binding course and a 40 mm asphaltic concrete wearing course.

This section of the highway passes through three water catchment areas which supply drinking water 27 km further down the valley, so environmental awareness is a key issue. Similarly, jungle clearance must be kept to a minimum to limit the ecological impact.

Some concerns have been raised over the environmental effects of the construction work and contractors have been urged to take the utmost care.

For example, the main contractor, MTD Construction, has an environmental management plan which outlines their procedures for protecting the flora, fauna and wildlife and for monitoring water quality, noise and fuel spillage.

Sediment strategy

Some 13.5 million tonnes of residual soil will be excavated and drilling and blasting of metamorphic granite and sedimentary schist will amount to one million cubic metres. All extracted rock is to be used as backfill material and, as part of a strategy to prevent sediment being transported downstream, rock and gravel are wrapped in geotextile fabric to form a filter dam.

The contractor Fong Mook Seong is blasting along the proposed alignment using 55 mm cartridge ANFO. The explosive is packed into 6 m-deep holes in a 2x2 m pattern. The angle is typically between 65 to 80 degrees.

Atlas Copco drill bits for the blast holes are the standard 76 mm diameter and 64 mm diameter button bits at 500 mm centres are used for pre-splitting the rock. Extension rod lengths on the hydraulic crawlers are 3.6 m.

Reliable rigs

Atlas Copco's Ove Johansson, Business Development Manager for the Far East, has helped to select the most suitable bits for the area's difficult rock conditions. Drilling performances are excellent and the contractor has a year's supply committed to the job - further testimony to Atlas Copco's commitment to invest for the benefit of customers' productivity and efficiency.

Mr Fong is delighted with the performance of the Atlas Copco rigs and concludes: "When the going gets tough, we can rely on the Atlas Copco machines to finish the job!"

Tough terrain: Progress has its problems along the planned route for the new highway, with thick forests, valleys and mountainous terrain making access difficult to some of the sites.

A country in two locations Malaysia is unique in that it is the only country that is partly on the mainland and partly some 650 km away on the other side of the South China Sea. The Malaysian peninsula is a mountainous and densely jungled piece of land about 800 km long and 325 km wide which extends from the southern border of Thailand to Singapore. East Malaysia includes the north-west of the large island of Borneo and is around 1,075 km long and 385 km wide. It is divided between Sarawak and Sabah, with Brunei wedged between them. By far the largest part of the island is the area taken up by the Indonesian state of Kalimantan. Malaysia's government is based on conventional parliamentary democracy with a Prime Minister heading up a Cabinet of Ministers. However, in accordance with Malaysian tradition, nine of the country's 13 states are governed by hereditary rulers who, in turn, elect one ruler every five years to be the supreme head of state. Manufacturing is the largest single component of Malaysia's economy and the country is one of the world's main producers of palm oil, timber, pepper and petroleum. Tourism has also emerged as a major contributor to the national economy.