Construction of the Alor Pongsu Interchange for PLUS Malaysia Berhad involves construction of an interchange bridge including toll plaza on soft compressible alluvial deposits up to 27m deep. Various ground improvement techniques have been implemented during construction such as preloading via surcharge fill, prefabricated vertical drains (PVD), stone columns and the usage of high strength geotextile as basal reinforcement. In this talk, some of the geotechnical challenges that were faced during construction of the interchange from design stage until construction to completion will be presented. This includes a discussion on the concept of preloading via surcharge fill, planning of the soil investigation works, ground improvement concepts and various geotechnical engineering ingenuities that were introduced during construction. Some of the instrumentation results will be presented as well to compare with the estimated settlement.


Profile of Speaker:

Azam Syariff Bin Zahar is a senior geotechnical engineer with 16 years of experience providing geotechnical engineering services for a wide range of clientele varying from various government departments to project proponents from the private sector. He has been involved in numerous engineering projects such as pre-feasibility studies through to detailed engineering and on-site construction supervision, quality assurance, troubleshooting and overall project coordination. These projects based both in Malaysia and abroad (New Zealand, Vietnam and Iran), have included commercial and industrial buildings, highways, railways, power plant, ports, petrochemical complexes and land reclamation projects. Mr. Azam obtained his Degree in Civil Engineering from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan in 2002. He is currently an Associate Director for T&T Konsult Sdn Bhd and leads the Geotechnical Department.