Local consultants ‘not involved in roof construction’

KUALA TERENGGANU (NST): The three consultants of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium project — Protech Consultant, MA Consult and AZN Engineers — have denied involvement in the structural design or construction of the roof which collapsed on Tuesday morning.

A spokesperson for Protech Consultant said the involvement of the three consultant engineering firms, hired by the state government’s Consultant Appointment Committee, was strictly in the civil and structural works of the main stadium structure.

“The construction of the stadium roof was not in the original contract as it was a separate ‘design and build’ project, vetted by the state government’s Tender Committee and approved by the Public Works Department.

“It was a specialised job and efforts must have been made by the Tender Committee to make sure the successful applicants were competent to handle the work.”

He said various trips were made by the committee to South Korea to visit the facilities and factories there in order to be satisfied with its choice of a South Korean company.
“This was in addition to the study trips to Greece and the United Kingdom to make sure that the stadium was at par, if not better, than the best stadiums in the world.”

The spokesperson believed there was nothing wrong with the design or materials used as all engineering values and calculations had to be verified.

“The design is sound. During the monsoon season, the roof did not get blown off by the strong winds. That showed it had passed the wind tunnel or wind load test.

“I believe, on paper, the roof structure was safe. Even before the proposal design was accepted, it had to have the endorsement of an independent consultant here.”

He said perhaps the problem was with the installation or the use of fabrication construction materials of dubious standard.

“The roof was a little asymmetrical from when it was first installed but some experts said it was supposed to move around a bit before settling in place.

“Another problem was during the defect-liability period. The maintenance works had to be done by the contractors and since they were in South Korea, it might have taken them a while to get here.”

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