KUALA TERENGGANU – Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) employees can begin traversing directly by road to the Sultan Mahmud Power Station (SJSM) in Kampung Jenagor from today.
This is made possible through the kind gesture of the Army to build a 30-meter long ‘Compact Bailey 200’ bridge, as a temporary measure at the Kenyir Dam.
Army Second Division commander Major-General Datuk Muhammad Huzaimi Sabri said the Bailey’s bridge was erected after the original bridge had collapsed due to floods last month.
TNB staff commuting to their work site used boats as an alternative to cross a river.
“This temporary bridge is very important as an entry and exit route for TNB employees to SJSM,” he said yesterday.
The bridge was first installed on Saturday and is expected to be fully completed today.
Huzaimi said the responsibility for the installation of the bridge was given to the division’s Royal Engineers Regiment who despatched a team of five officers and 64 members from the 7th squadron based at the Desa Pahlawan camp in Kota Baru, Kelantan.
They were assisted by the 1st and 91st squadrons.
“The Army is always committed to providing assistance to the people, fulfilling the fifth pillar of the Army chief’s command, which is to improve relations with the public,” he said.
SJSM had been temporarily shut down since Feb 27 after the high voltage transmission tower, which supplies electricity from SJSM to the National Grid, collapsed due to a landslide.
TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Baharin Din said the unusually heavy and continuous rain since Feb 25 had resulted in a landslide that cut off access to SJSM at 4am on Feb 27.
“The sediment then flowed into Sungai Terengganu. Six hours later, another landslide occurred, causing a bridge and a 132kV transmission tower to collapse.
“TNB then, immediately stopped SJSM’s operations and safely evacuated all employees from the station,” he said.
He added TNB had activated its Business Continuity Plan (emergency action plan) as soon as the landslide occurred, to take immediate action to address the situation, including coordinating with the stakeholders, government agencies and other departments.
Other measures taken included assessing the impact of the incident on the dam structure and the implementation of remedial measures to restore SJSM’s operations.
The initial assessment found that the integrity of the dam structure remained strong and safe and the situation around Tasik Kenyir was also safe.
TNB collaborated with the Public Works Department to continue monitoring the slope condition and also sought the services of external consultants to make a detailed assessment of the integrity of the dam.
Repair works are expected to take almost six months as it also includes clearing all obstructions and flood silt, minimising the effects of erosion and preventing the possibility of further erosion and maintenance of power-generating equipment and assets.
TNB assured that during the temporary closure of SJSM, which has a total capacity of 400 megawatts, electricity supply to consumers in the East Coast would not be affected as there were other sources via the National Grid.
Source: NEW STRAITS TIMES
