AN Environmental Management Conference 2017 was organised at the KVMRT Training Centre, Sungai Buloh on 19 December 2017. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘The Greening of Kuala Lumpur With MRT’.

Over 170 attendees attended this conference. They comprised of individuals from Malaysia Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp), MMC-Gamuda KVMRT (PDP SSP) Sdn Bhd (MMC-Gamuda), Work Package Contractors (WPCs) for the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line and also several invited organisations such as the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and MyHSR Corp.

This year’s conference was officiated by Department of Environment (DOE) Director General Dato’ Dr Ahmad Kamarulnajuib Che Ibrahim.

In addition to officiating the event, Ahmad gave a keynote presentation entitled ‘Guided Self-Regulation (GSR).’ Here, he explained about certain regulations that needs to be abided by in the MRT Project such as noise levels and soil conditions that need to be observed. However, there are policies and procedures made available for easy guidance.

Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA) Principle Assistant Secretary Encik Hazrey Tomyang explained the Green Technology Master Plan (GTMP). He explained that the goal of GTMP is to strengthen the role of green economy and green technology as as catalyst to drive Malaysia’s aspirations for sustainable growth.

Six key sectors focused in GTMP are energy, manufacturing, transport, building, waste and water. The key sector that was most appealing was transport in that the government aims for the Greater Kuala Lumpur to achieve a target of 40% of individuals to commute via public transport. With this in place, it will decrease the amount of carbon dioxide released.

After lunch, DOE Kuala Lumpur Director Puan Norlin Ja’afar gave a talk about ‘Green Transportation and Environmental Requirements.’ At the beginning of her keynote, she mentioned that there are various key words with regard to the environment. Amongst it are green cities, where Putrajaya aims to be a city that is eco-friendly. Also highlighted was that the Government has also previously taken steps to make public transportation to be eco-friendly such as the introduction of the BRT bus. These buses are operated in Sunway and are powered by electricity. This has managed to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide as they do not release it.

Mr Tan Poh Aun an environmental consultant from SOx NOx Asia Sdn Bhd was the last speaker of the day. He gave a presentation about air quality in particular discussing about owning a vehicle and the effects of the MRT. He explained that by 2030, there would be a programme that 100% of vehicles on the road will be Energy Efficient Vehicles. This is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide transmitted from them. In addition to that, he presented a case study about using the MRT service from Sungai Buloh to Bukit Bintang in comparison using a private vehicle. Besides reducing cost by using the MRT service, it will also improve the air quality in that MRT trains do not transmit carbon dioxide.

A prize giving ceremony was also held during this conference.

With the National Environmental Day being celebrated every year on 21 October, MRT Corp had organised two competitions to commemorate it.

An essay writing competition was organised from 20 September 2017 – 7 October 2017. This competition was done with the assistance of MMC-Gamuda and WPCs along the alignment of the SSP Line. 12 schools were invited and students submitted their entries. The competition was divided into several categories and the winners were as follows:

The second competition was a treasure hunt competition organised by MMC-Gamuda. It involved employees from MRT Corp, MMC-Gamuda and WPCs having to solve puzzles and riding on the MRT service from the Kwasa Sentral MRT Station all the way to the Stadium Kajang MRT Station.  The ‘BR ECO’ team comprising of Encik Shukli Suban, Encik Mior Ahmad Syafiq and Encik Meor Seporamdhan from MRT Corp emerged as champions.

All attendees were presented with a certificate of attendance at the end of the conference.