Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

Dato’ Zoal Azha Yusof“All awards are of no use ifthe engineering did not fulfilits role – and that role is toserve the people it is builtfor. The SMART Tunnel wasbuilt to serve Kuala Lumpur,Malaysians and foreignvisitors. It was built so thatwhen you are in KualaLumpur, you will indeed beable to enjoy the beauty ofthis city flood-free”such instances were: March 22, 2008, when the SMART diverted 1.2 million cu m offlood water at Kampung Berembang away from Kuala Lumpur City Centre. March3, when a major storm caused the water levels of Klang River at Masjid Jamek torise to a very high levels of just 0.2m below the bank. During this critical storm,SMART diverted 700,000 cu m of flood water at Kampung Berembang. As a result,the Masjid Jamek area and its vicinity were spared from the flood impact.SMART is truly a unique piece of engineering. As a result, it has won numerousawards, both locally and overseas, such as the Malaysian Construction IndustryExcellence Award 2007, the Gold Award from The Association of ConsultingEngineering Malaysia in 2008, the Engineering Excellence Awards 2008 from theAssociation of Consulting Engineers of United Kingdom and British ConstructionIndustry (BCIA) 2008 Awards (International Category). SMART was also screenedby two prestigious television networks – the National Geographic Channel in2007 and Discovery channel in 2006. To date, more than 2,000 visitors, includinglocal and foreign dignitaries, have visited SMART and left impressed by its uniquefunctionality and success.All awards are of no use if the engineering did not fulfil its role – and that role is toserve the people it is built for. The SMART Tunnel was built to serve Kuala Lumpur,Malaysians and foreign visitors. It was built so that when you are in Kuala Lumpur,you will indeed be able to enjoy the beauty of this city flood-free.63