Selangor introduces advanced road management software

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor state government is introducing an advanced road management software to address widespread pothole problems in the state and to improve road maintenance at an optimal cost.
State executive councillor (exco) for infrastructure Zaidy Abdul Talbi (PKR-Taman Templer) said the software, named Highway Development and Management Model (HDM4), was developed by the World Bank for long term roadwork analysis.
"This software works by scanning Selangor's 3,700km of roads and uploads it as data into our computers, where it will be able to keep track of the state of the roads.
"This will allow us to see how many percent of a particular road is good, fair, or bad, and which one may need immediate repairs," Zaidy told a press conference in the state assembly's annex building.
He said even though state assemblymen already have federal to state Road Record Information System (Marris) allocations to spend on road resurfacing and repairs in their respective constituencies, those are for immediate repairs while HDM4 focuses on long term solutions.
To supplement the software, roadwork contractors must also pass a road resurfacing course starting in 2016 to qualify for roadwork and repairs tenders.
Zaidy said it has been learned that even the contractors may not know how to resurface a road properly, resulting in shoddy road repairs that degrades within days.
"Starting in 2016, contractors must register with the state economic planning unit and take this course; if they fail this course they'll have to retake it, if they passed then they will be awarded a certificate which will qualify them for roadwork tenders," he explained.
Zaidy said 500 technical officers in the state government will trained under the course within the year at a cost of RM400,000.