I AM unhappy reading about the “poor-quality culture” in our construction industry in the wake of a report that a 40m-long pedestrian bridge being built across Sungai Kilim in Langkawi has collapsed.

Towards the end of last year, we read about the caving in of a tourism building at Tasik Banding in Grik, Perak.

Early last year, it was the collapse of the new Fraser’s Hill road in Pahang, which is now closed.

What is happening? Is it a reflection on Malaysians that they do not take pride in their work? Is it a case of poor quality of engineering graduates or is it because our construction industry does not practise industry benchmarking of quality standards? Or, perhaps, it is due to inertia on the part of planners.

In all three cases, there were no deaths and hence, after six months, the issue will be forgotten. Can the project planners explain why these new structures collapsed?

The engineering and construction societies should also offer their explanations. Silence means they condone these disasters as acceptable and will only speak up if there are deaths.

HARBAN SINGH, Johor Baru

Source: NST – February 12, 2008