KUALA LUMPUR: Negligence is the most likely cause of the collapse of eight concrete beams of an uncompleted flyover along the Kajang-Seremban Highway (Kaseh), near Pajam, last Thursday.
Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said this was the finding of the investigations by the Malaysian Highway Authority and several other agencies.
"We understand there was general negligence on the part of the project contractor, IJM, when the accident took place at night.
"They also failed to put up sufficient lighting and warning signs for motorists when carrying out the works," he said yesterday.
IJM Construction Sdn Bhd is the main contractor, while WCT Engineering Bhd is the sub-contractor for the flyover, which is scheduled for completion by December 2009.
The contractor had detected a fault when laying the 40-tonne beams, one of which failed to settle onto a rubber cushion, in the incident at 11.40pm.
"As the contractor was attempting to rectify the fault, the eighth beam being laid slipped and fell, dragging down the remaining beams," he said at the launch of the road safety campaign, in conjunction with the Hari Raya holidays, at the Sungai Buloh overhead rest area along the North-South Expressway (NSE).
Three family members, travelling in a car from Felda Pasoh to Kota Damansara in Selangor, escaped death when the beams fell, blocking the Seremban-Nilai trunk road near Pajam, close to Nilai.
He said IJM had sent a letter of apology, giving an assurance that such an accident would not recur.
On the issue of superbikes flouting traffic laws on expressways, he said 65 per cent of motorists interviewed by a television channel on Monday had proposed either imposing toll charges or outright banning of superbikes.
On the road safety campaign from Oct 6 to Nov 12, he said several measures would be taken.
These included reducing the speed limit by 10kph on federal and state roads, opening a temporary "third lane" along the Seremban-Ayer Keroh, Rawang-Tanjung Malim and Slim River-Behrang stretches of the NSE, introducing a travel time advisory for balik kampung motorists and banning heavy vehicles on the NSE for three days before and after Hari Raya.