MEMORIES OF A MAJESTIC STADIUM

Jun 30, 2009 at 8:47 AM
16 comments

MEMORIES OF A MAJESTIC STADIUM

I happened to be in neighbourhood of this Stadium when overseeing the Kuala Terengganu Airport Project, vying with each other to complete the facility to meet the target date of The State of Terengganu. The Stadium was to host the 2008 SUKMA Games. The Opening Ceremony was targetted at 10.05.2008, to be oficiated by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong; Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, at which date the Stadium's name will be announced. From the photos, the roof frame was still substantially to be completed at Feb 2008.The temporary supports were still very much in place and the cladding yet to be started.

The first layer of roof cladding started to be installed in early Mac and cranes were frantically installing the members. Is the installation process supposed to be this way? I wonder how the behaviour of the structural members could be predicted with roof cladding already fitted while the space frame members are still being installed. With 330m span of light weight space frame members, it is expected that settlement of the nodes will occur and this have to be allowed for in the design and installation process.The members should theoretically be fitted slightly proud of actual position so that when the supports were taken away, the members would systematically settle down to the designed shape. These must be predicted right at design stage.

With that assumption, the roof cladding installation should be defered until the whole roof structure is complete and supports taken away. The the cladding should be systemically installed in alternate position to balance the load on the structural members. Any imbalance would cause the shift in equilibrium and centre of gravity with long term hazardous consequence. I do not know whether these installation consideration was gven due emphasis or was sacrificed to meet the May 10 target. When a Yang Di Pertuan Agong was the one to officiate the opening ceremony with a month of preparation by the performers, the pressure on the construction team were indeed very tremendous.

The completed stadium was indeed a grand monument of architecture. I was there with the family, waiting from 8.00pm with stadium packed for the ceremony which only started at 9.30pm, waiting for his August Presence. The traditional performance was a great choreography of art, rarely seen anywhere. The performers performed in drizzling to heavy rain which did not dampen their fast pace. The Princess of Malaysia Pop; Dato' Siti Nurhaliza performed in drizzling rain, so too Anuar Zain with his magical tremourous soprano of vocal mastery delivering his magic number; Ketulusan Cinta, raising his voice to the music, oblivious of the rain. It was a really grand occasion in an equally grand stadium. The seats were comfortable, spacious and easily accessed because of the space alocated. The complete absence of any obstruction in the line of vision which is the main reason for space frame construction makes the occasion really special and memorable.

Now, what was left of those sweet memories are majestic ruins. The Terengganu dream was shattered by this totally unexpected event and Chief Minister Dato Ahmad Said went on crusade against JKR, the agency the State had depended for so long to spearhead the infrastructure development of Terengganu with budgets coming from 3 hefty sources; the State budget, Federal budget and the Wang Ehsan (Oil Royalty money packaged under different name). JKR had served the State well but with a slip here; though still not yet determined the real cause, all those were swept down the drain and JKR was made to look like an incompetent elephant. This is the scenario we see time and time again. JKR is being made a scapegoat for political milestone that missed and yet this country still cannot afford to dismiss JKR's role in professional engineering services. The moment they tried like in the case of The Makmal Komputer, it came back to JKR to clear up the mess done by other ministries trying to chalk their own path to glory.

More than 200km away, I still remember the majesty of this stadium and the satisfaction of watching the Opening Ceremony, SUKMA games and opening of World Edurance Championship. The crumbled roofings made those memories all the more special..

16 comments

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stadium sultan mizan zainal...

Comments

Razali, I too felt the same way as I was there when the stadium took shape and completed into a majestic one. I had a collection of few angles of this stadium during her heyday. Hope that it will be restored to her formal glory.

Until the head hunters had finished finding the scape goat, we will not see the roof structure coming up in the near future. And dont forget, there is a hard decision to make; will the same space frame structure be reinstall or added props installed which will mar the otherwise unobstructed view of the stadium?

Razali,
Who was the SO for this project?

What type of contract? (conventional or design and build?)
If it was design and build then the conctactor is fully responsible for the design and also the construction including the supervision of the stadium. What was the role of JKR engineers for this project?

I understand there was a lack of fit which was large ! Is it true? Lack of fit had to do with the quality of workmanshp(it showed how good or bad the control of workmanship). What did they control in the construction ot the trusses? What did they measure? Who approved every stage of construction of the trusses? Where were the records of measurements and control?

Prof,

As I know it, It is Design and Built Contract and PD is The JKR State Director. There is a Site Team headed by a J48; I would say very under sized for such a project. Such a project should be headed by a more senior engineer. However maybe the State had resources problem..

I cannot say for sure about that Prof. There talks about it but I did not check out. Now it become sensitive to talk about it. However from the photos you can see that there is a kink in the roofing profile near the top most arch. I do not know for sure whether last minute adjustments were made to ensure stadium ready for the Opening Ceremony.

Honestly I cannot answer your questions there Prof. There were stories of site adjustments to unsure fit but I cannot verify it. There were also complaints from the State Govt that no JKR people were on site during construction when they make impromtu visits. I cannot verify this also. There were also talks of the effect of planes landing/taking off from nearby airport. I presume those are just shots in the dark..

As far as the contract conceran since it was Design and Build contract the responsibilite were with the contractor. The contractor must ensure safety of the Structures and the Public. For the contractor to take this responsibilites he must employed competent engineers to design , supervise and construct this structures. He cannot employ 'cap ayam' consultant as mentioned in the media. If he thought that the consultnat cannot performed the work it was the contractor duties terminate his services. JKR was there just to oversee the project on behalf of the goverment. JKR shouldnt play any role in the supervising work as the contractor was PAID to design, supervise and construct. It is wrong if JKR supervise or take up some role in the supervision works. So it is OK for JKR to be the PD but all the responsibilites lie with the contractor. He was PAID for the resposibilities.

The processes for the design are design, check , verify or validate if necessary and approved. I wonder these processes were systematically done?
What was the designed factor of safety against dead load, dead & live load,elastic and plastic instability of critical members, fatigue and creep? What were the deflections at various critical points at various stages of construction . Who checked, verify and approved all these factors to ensure its complied with the code of practices.? What were the tests, measurement taken during construction to verfy and validate that all the designed parameters were within what was intended(designed)? Wheare were the records of constructions and design? These are the questions need to be asked by the investigators.

TQ Prof,

I learned a lot from you and I'm practicing it in my Project. HQ looks into the design part and I keep harping on the QA/QC procedures at Site. I cant believe the thing happening at Site prior to my arrival - HQ Consultant coming once a week to sign QC Forms; meaning without witnessing..

Actually it not ethical and against the Board of Engineers code of conduct to sign and approved works without witnessing. It can be reported to the Board Of Engineers and the engineers may be subjected to suspension from practicing.You can observed the professionalism of the engineers from their conduct on site. The forget they are there to make sure what had been assumed and parameters used in the design are achieved on site. If it cannot be achieved then they should notify the designer for the next action to be done, may be redesigning if required or if the Factor of Safety. That was asked in my previous message to you what measurement they take on site to ensure compliance with what was design. In the case of space truss usually the deflection at various stage of construction were measured. These deflections were compared with the deflections during design stage. It the measured deflections were less than the design deflections than it is OK if the design was also OK

Recently I was told about a foreign contractor and consultant constructing a large span roof for a hangar at KLIA. The trusses were assembled on the ground and jack up to the final position. During the process of jacking the consultant monitor the stresses,strain and deflection of certain critical points on the trusses. The consultant was making sure that these parameters were withing allowable limits. The instrumentation were enormous. This was how people learned and improve their professionlism, skills and competency. I am very doubtful this was done for the collapsed stadium. The records of construction will tell the whole story.

Prof,
This is the reason why Malaysia still cannot afford to dismiss JKR. Our professioanls still need someone to watch their back. They are not THERE yet as far a professionalism is concerned.
I learned from the GM-Lojing Bridge incident and used it to monitor the Galas Bridge. We measure deflection at all stage and compare to predicted. I share you gut feel as far as Stadium is concern.

In design and build contract there is an item called 'turnkey elements'. In this trunkey elements the contractor priced for the planning, design,supervision, construction and handing over. That why I said it is the responsibilty of the contractor to plan, design and supervise the structure because they had priced for it and PAID.
JKR placed their engineers on site just to oversee the project. JKR may have other purpose of placing their engineers down there e.g to train their staff so that they will achieved certain skills and competency(e.g technical and management skills). The PD should be clear on this and make it clear to all stakeholders during the initial preconstruction meeting.The PD and JKR should only make sure all works were done in accordance with drawings and specifications. In other words JKR just need to ask about the system for design, supervision and construction. System consists of many Processes. Processes consist of what to be done, who to do it, when, why ,where and how?JKR has to make sure all the system and processes were adhered to with the objectives of ensuring the safety,durability,aesthetic, mantainability and legality.

TQ Prof,

Since the Project Management Course by X-Project Team that you exposed the senior JKR engineers to Project Management, I have been enlightened on the processes above and been breathing hard over the contractors back when they slacked in this department. It was one of the best course I had ever attended; 3 weeks course split over 3 phases. Dr Yeoh was superb on the legal aspect. Now JKR managers were talking about Time At Large, and Time is The Essence of Contract. Before this CPC was happily signed backdated by many. Your emails to JDs and Pengarahs on this before helped us to awaken from the Comfort Zone. TQ Prof.