Ta Wee Seow

Impacts of flood on children and adults’ health and ways to sustainable development

One of the events that will remain fresh in the minds of Kelantanese is the 2014 massive flood that occurred at the end of that year. Heavy rains fell initiating vast flooding in most areas of Kelantan leading to great destruction of livelihood of local communities. Natural hazard such as floods are not only caused by natural processes but also by human activities. The flood recorded severe fatalities, injuries and exposed many vulnerable to diseases. This paper through critical review of literature considered the long-term impact of floods on humans health as the effects could meaningfully contribute to the worldwide burden of disease. Also, its outcomes are relentless hence need to be adequately comprehended and addressed through sustainability. This study revealed vulnerability to flood inclined ailments as psychological distress in the survivors is liable for a quota of all physical ailments. Hence, sustainable approach to flood preparedness and prevention is instantly needed. Accolades should be given to the Malaysian government for taken bold steps in that direction in recent time but success will be achieved if implementation is in compliance with sustainability agenda spelt in the New Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

Stakeholder Roles in Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Implementation

Malaysia construction sector has been known to be a sector that pollutes the environment through its land clearing process to its harvesting of raw material from the environment to be used in construction process. Part of this construction process involves building the energy sectors. Mega power plant projects are important to sustain the Malaysian businesses and operations. However, it cannot be halted totally due to the inevitable necessity to meet the needs of the population. Therefore, the Malaysian government has shown effort to balanced sustainable environment and human advancement through exploration of renewable energy through the introduction and renewable energy (RE) policies and Feed-in-Tariff (FiT). Malaysia’s strategic locality in the equator proves prospective for untapped solar energy, in which can be harnessed though Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV). However, the BIPV implement is relatively slow although it has been introduced for more than 10 years although it has so much potential. To address this problem, this paper identifies the five major BIPV stakeholders in Malaysia which are the Government, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Developers, Consumers and Research and Development (R&D) together with the problem that these stakeholders face in BIPV implementation. The objective of this research is to suggest focus adding value to rectify the developers’ setback that will help expedite BIPV implementation in Malaysia using the Iskandar Region, Johor as case study.

Strategies in Dealing with Cost Overrun Issues: Perspective of Construction Stakeholders

Construction industry in Malaysia is one of the main contributors to economic growth, yet there are still issues related to construction cost overrun. Many factors have triggered the cost overrun issues that might have high possibility to ruin the overall performance of a construction project. To cope with these issues, determination of strategies is essential to ensure effective cost management in construction projects. This study attempts to identify strategies for current construction industry in dealing with cost overrun issues. Literature review and quantitative approach were employed to achieve objectives of the study. Questionnaires were distributed to three key construction stakeholders that are client, contractor and consultant in Penang state, Malaysia. The data obtained from the respondents were analyzed by using Relative Importance Index (RII) method. The findings indicate that the current industry stakeholders have different point of view and opinion in dealing with cost overrun issues. In conclusion, the result of this study serves as a guideline in dealing with the issue of cost overrun.