Super confident Samy Vellu.

I have the utmost respect for the profound self-confidence that our works minister, Samy Vellu has in himself. The new SMART road has been completed. To those who're not from Kuala Lumpur, it's the bit of construction going around the old Sungai Besi airport that has been causing so many jams in the past. It serves a dual function: a tolled expressway that will cut down the traveling time through the old Sungai Besi road, and also as a storm drain to prevent flooding in the city by channeling away the river water.

He has said that the toll rates for the road will be finalised within the next couple of weeks. So, we know that the road will come into service soon. However, there has not been any wet testing conducted in the tunnel. This means that we *do not* know if it will work as advertised. The only time that we will be able to find out if it will channel away the storm water is the next time that the city has a flood. I don't know how the hell the government expects city folk to pay for something that they have no guarantees will even work as advertised.

The excuse that our most respectful works minister gave, when asked why testing was not conducted, is that it would cost too much to clean up the road after it's been flood tested (LAME alarm flashing!). That excuse is beyond lame! So, the only promise that they have of the system working is probably some nicely animated computer simulation to show flood waters flowing through the tunnel. But as any good engineer knows, simulation and real world are two entirely different things. So, that means that I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the tunnel during the next flood.

Also, if it costs so damn much to clean up the tunnel after it's been used for it's intended purpose, what are we going to do with it after our first flood. For certain, the waters of Klang river will rise soon as the monsoon seasons change to the South West monsoon in April. And since it's too expensive to clean up the tunnel after it's been used, what was the point of building it in the first place. A lot of idiots probably lined up for this project. I'm sure that it was an engineering feat to design and build a structure that does not need to be tested to work and that may even be thrown away after being used once.

Maybe the real reason why it was not tested is because the government thinks that it will not pass the test. In which case, payment should not be made to the contractors and engineers who built it. This is starting to sound a lot like the story, "The Emperor's New Clothes" and guess who the emperor is. Maybe this is the kind of increased transparency our dearest Prime Minister was talking about previously. Now, if only my PhD was this simple. Not having to prove that it works and just having to waffle through my thesis would be so easy!