MY Career with MOBIL

This is the only company which I had attended so many training in all my working experiences as shown above. When I started my career as Construction Engineer under Engineering Department in Mobil Oil (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (MOMSB) in July 1994, the company had been established for more than 20 years in Malaysia while Mobil itself was founded in U.S.A. almost 100 years ago. MOMSB's headquarter office was based in Wisma Goldhill, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur with other branches and terminals throughout the country like LPG bottling plant in Batu Caves and some main fuel terminals in Port Klang, Selangor and Kuantan, Pahang. The company was medium size but had to compete with a few giant companies like Petronas and Shell. However, it had almost 3,000 staff all around the world.

Our mission in the first year I joined MOMSB was to stream as many stations as possible with a target of 10 stations per year. I was in charge of Northern Region from Kuala Selangor, Selangor to Perlis. I managed to construct new stations in Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perlis while reconstructed some stations in Sg Besar, Ipoh and Seberang Perai. There were other engineers in charge of Central, Southern and East Coast Region.

The duty of construction engineer was to coordinate and monitor the design, planning, tender and contract preparations, implementation and supervision of the construction of service stations and authority submission including obtaining approvals for development order, building plans, authority inspection and certificate of fitness. The supervision works involved the testing and commissioning of underground tanks and fuel dispenser pumps. I personally attended to new stations at Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Penang; Permatang Pauh and Permatang Batu in Seberang Perai; Jalan Mergong, Alor Star in Kedah and Jalan Kemajuan, Kangar in Perlis.

After working for two years, I was promoted to a senior position as Senior Construction Engineer. There were two junior engineers assisting me on the working assignments. During this period, I managed to assist them to complete three major stations in Seremban, Bukit Beruntung and Bangi. At one time we managed to overtake the number of stations streamed for the year more than our competitors like Petronas and Shell i.e. 12 stations completed and streamed in a year! Our strong commitment and teamworks were the main factors contributed to the success.

Since MOMSB's policy was not to station any personnel in a single department, I was then transferred to Retail Fuel Department as a Territory Manager. I was in charge of three stations in Selangor and all Mobil service stations in the East Coast of Malaysia i.e. Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan. Although I was from technical background, it was an excellent experience to be exposed in the retail business. I learned on the preparation of overall business planning, marketing strategy, sales target, cash flows, ROI, service station management, dealer's motivation and training, customer relations, and establishment of corporate identity recognition in the marketplace.

I picked up the new career and job assignment so fast where I proved to the management that I managed to meet the sales target for the year. One of my stations even won the first place in the yearly contest to select the Service Station of the Year. The station was located in Kuantan, Pahang.














Working in MOMSB also gave me an opportunity to see other countries. When I attended the Retail Entry Level course, I was based in Singapore for two solid months staying in Shangri La Hotel. I also went for another training in Hong Kong for almost a week where I took the chance to visit Guangdong in Southern China.













Due to economic turmoil in 1998 and world wide practice of merging big companies, Mobil was finally agreed to merge with Esso in Malaysia. They are now called Exxon Mobil Berhad. I finally left the company in 1999 when most of the staff were offered Voluntary Separation Scheme.

MY Carreer with Ibai Bina Sdn Bhd

Project : Building and Workshop Equipment for Kuantan-Kerter Railway in Terengganu.

Project Cost : RM 45 Million

Client : Petroliam Nasional Berhad

I joined a construction company, Ibai Bina Sdn Bhd from January 2000 until March 2001 as a Project Planning Control Manager for the above project which involved the construction of Office Building and its components and workshop equipments in Paka, Terengganu.

Basically, my duty was to work out detail activity work schedule from the approved Work Baseline and to monitor as well as adjust the overall program to suit actual progress at site in order to mitigate delay. I was reporting to a Project Manager.

Putrajaya Under Construction III

Putrajaya Under Construction II

Putrajaya Under Construction I

MY Career with Putrajaya

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I worked with Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd at www.pjh.com.my from 2001 to 2004 as an Assistant Manager. I was reporting to a Project Manager, En Shaharom Ramlan who was seconded from KLCC Projek Sdn Bhd, a Project Management Consultant. He had been working on Putrajaya since 1998 when the mega project was initiated by the former Prime Minister, Dr MahathirMohamad .

Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd is a development arm of Petronas Berhad, a major developer of a new government administrative center of Malaysia, Putrajaya. This is where the Prime Minister's Office and other main government offices are located. The residence of Prime Minister of Malaysia and his deputy are also built within the radius. Total estimated cost of RM18 billion, some of the projects are still under construction.

When I joined PjH, almost 15% of the whole development had been completed. Under the Government Building Department headed by Puan Elina Abd. Aziz, the team mainly concentrated on the core island. During the time, the man made lake had not been commissioned. The construction was massive. All the underground services were also under construction. We had to deal with other departments mainly, Infrastructural, CUC, GDC, LRT, JBA, Telekom, TNB for coordination purposes. Not forgetting interfacing with other main contractors at the same time.

The contract was under Design and Build awarded to a main contractor, WCT Engineering Sdn Bhd.

MY Career with SSP

I joined Sepakat Setia Perunding Sdn Bhd (SSP) at www.sspsb.com.my in 2004 as a Resident Engineer to represent the developer overseeing the construction and completion of a new complex for the local council, Majlis Daerah Hulu Langat in Banting, Selangor.

Established in 1970, SSP is presently a leading multidisciplinary engineering consultancy firm in Malaysia serving both the public and private sectors. Registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and Ministry of Finance (MOF), it has undertaken and completed numerous multi million government and private projects throughout the country. SSP has also been accredited by SIRIM with the MS ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems certification for provision of engineering consultancy services.

As for this project which cost RM 20 million, the same quality standards were practiced. The role of resident engineer is listed down as follows :-

1. To protect the standard practice of the company and the interest of the client.
2. To represent the company in all official site and design meetings providing the best consultancy advice without sacrificing the quality and engineering practice.
3. To coordinate and monitor the progress of the site construction works in order to control the cost within the budget and the time within the project's schedule.
4. To assist and report to the Project Manager on the technical problems at site and to suggest the best engineering solution at the minimal cost and fastest time.
5. To evaluate and process the interim progress claim (IPC) by the contractor on monthly basis.
6. To supervise and advise the contractor on all construction activities as to control the QA/QC for the best results and quality performance.
   

The developer was Golden Hope Builders Sdn Bhd which had awarded the contract to a main contractor, Gabongan Strategik Sdn Bhd. The consultants involved in the design and supervision of the above project were as follows :-

1. MAA Arkitek Sdn Bhd, an architectural firm.
2. Sepakat Setia Perunding Sdn Bhd, a C&S and M&E consultant.
3. Jurukur Bahan Malaysia, a QS consultant.

I was reporting to the Project Manager of SSP, Ir Zolkarnain Abd Rahim. We had a monthly meeting at site to monitor the progress and resolve any outstanding and site technical issues. The meeting normally chaired by the architect while I was reporting the works progress and evaluating the contractor's claim with the presence of the QS.

The works consist of an administration block of three floors and infrastructural works including M&E works. The building was located on a piece of land belonged to Golden Hope Plantation Berhad which used to be oil palm estate. It was about 4 km from the town of Banting which is about 40 km from the royal city of Klang, Selangor.

The most challenging technical problems that we encountered in the project was the platform settlements since the soil was mostly very fibrous. Although the C&S consultant had advised the treatment of soil by using surcharge of earth materials and to allow for settlement for a period of 6 months. When the settlement monitoring record was shown consistent, the surcharge was removed. Unfortunately, during construction, the earth platform was still settling which to the best of engineering knowledge may be caused by the soft layer of soil at a very much lower level of underground. It was suggested that the roadside drain, drain sumps, culverts and even manholes of sewer to be provided with bakau piles.

MY Career with PBLT

Let me begin with my current employment with Pembinaan BLT Sdn Bhd at www.pblt.com.my

I started working here in March 2006 as a Project Manager. People always like to ask me what BLT stands for. It actually means Build Lease Transfer. The company was set up in September 2005 in line with the government's policy to improve the life of police force in this country. PBLT is a private company wholly owned by Minister of Finance Incorporated. Earlier set up was to receive a budget from Ministry of Finance, build the project, lease to the government for a certain period and transfer back to the government. The end-user shall be Polis Di Raja Malaysia or PDRM or Royal Police of Malaysia.

Since the company had just been set up, there were no proper system of project implementation. We started from scratch. I was the only experienced Project Manager in my department, Project Coordination Department 1 under Project Coordination Division. I am reporting to a Senior Manager. At that time was En Mas Abdul Rahman Mas Mohamed. Since the company is a Government Linked Company or GLC, there were a few personnel from government technical body called Jabatan Kerja Raya or JKR were seconded to this company. En Mas was from JKR. He was reporting to a General Manager, Tuan Hj Ir Landong Wakimin. The Managing Director is hand-picked from a private sector given to En Mohd Hatar Ismail, an accountant by a qualification.

My company staff no. is 045. I was one of the pioneer technical professional in the company. My first assignment was to handle, manage and coordinate the following eleven projects which cost almost RM650 million and consist of Administration Building and its components and quarters :-

1. IPD Manjung, Sitiawan, Perak.
2. IPD Taiping, Perak.
   
3. IPD Lahad Datu, Sabah.
4. IPD Padang Terap, Kedah.
5. IPD Kota Setar, Kedah.
6. BP Pantai Remis, Perak.
7. BP Beruas, Perak.
8. BP Batu Kurau, Perak.
9. PGA Bidor, Perak.
10. Pengkalan Marin, Semporna, Sabah.
11. Mes Pegawai Kanan, Perlis.

IPD MANJUNG

IPD Manjung was one of the first PBLT's pioneer projects. I managed to complete the project within acceptable contract period and cost. The project was commenced on 20th April 2006 and completed on 26th November 2007 with an extension of time of 54 days and project cost overrun of 7.7%. Final project cost is RM 54.8 million.

The project consist of the following building components :-

		a)	1 Blok Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah, IPD (3 Tingkat) bersambung dengan
		b)	Bangunan Lapang Sasar (1 Tingkat) dan Bangunan Lokap (1 Tingkat)
		c)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas D (Teres 2 Tingkat - 7 unit)
		d)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas E (Apartment 5 Tingkat - 18 unit)
		e)	7 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas F (Apartment 5 Tingkat - 112 unit)
		f)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas F (Apartment 3&4 Tingkat - 11 unit)
		g)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas F (Apartemnt 3&4 Tingkat - 10 unit)

Administration Block


Residential Quarters




Multipurpose Hall and Workshop


Fuel Pump Station and Surau


Lock-ups


Shooting Range










Meeting in Session









During construction, two separate meetings were conducted and chaired by me i.e. Client Consultants Meeting (CCM) and Site Progress Meeting (SM). CCM was held to update the progress of consultant's works including authority's submission and approval, construction drawing status and issuance, amended/variation works, technical and contractual issues, site problems, inspection test plan, end-user's comments, and cost control.

While SM was conducted to monitor construction progress works including updating progress report, submission of materials, works method statements, shop drawings and testing procedures, construction problems, interfacing issues, M&E and NSC coordination works, health and safety issues, T&C schedules etc.

During the course of the construction, we received several official visitors to present the works progress to ensure the project was on track. Among the visitors coming to the site were Former Director General of Logistics Department of PDRM, the former Deputy of Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Perak Police and the Inspector General of Police himself. There was also an official visit from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of Prime Minister's Office to evaluate and audit the compliance of EPU Guidelines to government offices and quarters.

Former DG of Logistics Dept. Visit on 26th January 2007









Former DIGP Visit on 13th August 2007









IGP Visit on 24th January 2008









EPU Audit on 26th June 2008









The Certificate of Fitness for the above project was finally obtained on 8th July 2008. The official handing over of the buildings to the end-user was scheduled on 30th July 2008. However, the building keys were given a week earlier. Therefore, a meeting was arranged with the representatives from IPD Manjung on 22nd July 2008.










Then the official handing over was taken placed successfully as scheduled.