EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. CHAPTER ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EXISTING 3 ENVIRONMENT 3.1 Introduction The chapter basically highlights the existing baseline scenario according to the three (3) major environmental components namely physical, biological and socio-economical environments. The existing environment is documented to form a basis for the assessment of potential impacts (either positive or negative) generated from the proposed development onto the surrounding environment. Conversely any existing conditions that are likely to impact upon the proposed development itself will also be discussed. The prevalent physical and biological environment will be an indicator of the existing nature’s carrying capacity to adapt to the potential impacts generated by the proposed development. While, the socio-economic background of the surrounding areas is established to represent specific aspects of the human environment, which normally poses significant implications in the implementation of the built development. The existing environment is determined for an impact area which extends for five (5) km radius from the boundary of the Project Site. The assessment is profiled according to site surveys and published secondary data (i.e. maps, reports and structure plans) made available by the relevant government agencies. 3.2 Physical Environment 3.2.1 Topography The topography of the Project Site in relation to the surroundings is shown in Figure 3.1 . Based on topographical survey plan provided by licensed surveyor, the morphology of the Project Site shows that the Project Site is generally characterised as nearly flat with the average elevations range from RL3.0m to RL3.8m above mean sea level. The highest ground (approximately RL 5.58m) lies at the earth mount in the northwestern portion of the Project Site while the lowest ground (approximately RL 2.32m) is situated in the southern portion of the Project Site as shown in Figure 3.2. The elevation levels of the Project Site decline gently from the high ground in the northern portion towards the sea in the southern region. EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-1 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. Figure 3.1: The General Topography of the Project Area EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-2 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. Figure 3.2: The Land Survey of the Project Site EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-3 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. 3.2.2 Hydrology From the hydrological aspect, the Project Site generally lies within the Sg. Kanchong Laut catchment area as shown in Figure 3.3 . The proposed Project Site is drained by numerous earth drains which flow into the man-made canal of Sg. Kanchong Laut in the eastern boundary of the Project Site where flows southwestwards into Straits of Melaka which is controlled by a tidal gate. Based on the List of Catchment Areas Where Standard “A” Applies by the Environment Quality Act 1974 (Act 127) as at 01 st April 2013 and water intake stations of Puncak Niaga Sdn. Bhd., there are no water intake points located within the Sg. Kanchong Laut river catchment. 3.2.3 General Geology of the Project Site The geological information of the Project area was obtained from the Geological Map of Peninsular Malaysia (1985) and Quaternary Geological Map of Peninsular Malaysia (1989), both published by the Geological Survey of Malaysia as shown in Figure 3.4 . The Project Site is situated on the unconsolidated and semi-consolidated Quaternary alluvial sediments namely Gula Formation. The sediments of Gula Formation mainly comprise thick marine clay (grey and dark grey), silt, locally very clayey or silty sand with subordinate amount of gravel. Organic matter is present mainly as plant remains and small amount of shell fragments. The sediments are typically greenish to grey in colour. However, the surface sediments are usually weathered to light grey coloration with yellow, orange or brown mottles. Where abundant humic material or plant remains are present, the sediments may be dark grey or brown grey. The deposits of Gula Formation vary from pure coarse sand to fine sand to pure silt or clay. The relatively pure sands are valuable sources for construction aggregate, while the silt and clays can be a constraint on future land uses where construction works are involved, such as this development due to the low load bearing capacity. Fossil evidence and lithology sequences have shown a shallow marine to estuarine environment of deposition for the Gula Formation. The age of the Gula Formation is considered to be Holocene. EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-4 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. Figure 3.3: The Drainage of Site towards Sg. Kanchong Laut EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-5 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. Figure 3.4 : General Geology of the Project Site. EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-6 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. 3.2.4 Soil Investigation Soil investigation was carried out at the Project Site to identify its sub surface condition and to obtain soil parameters for geotechnical design purposes. The soil parameters were obtained from the laboratory test carried out on the soil samples collected from the soil investigation works in the field. Based on the soil investigation (SI) conducted by S & M Geotechnics Sdn. Bhd. under the supervision of the consulting engineer, HTM Consultants Sdn. Bhd., with a total of ten (10) deep boreholes were proposed within the site and as of the preparation of this EIA report, ten (10) of the boreholes were drilled from 14 th January 2014 to 15 th February 2014. The location of the proposed boreholes within the Project Site is shown in Figure 3.5 and the summary of the Soil investigation results are as elaborated in sub-section below. Based on the borehole logs (refer to Appendix 3 ), the thickness of the soil (overburden) varies considerably depending on the positions of the boreholes at topographic high or low topographic. The thickness of the soil (overburden) shall be within approximately 33.00m to 37.50m of soil layers consists of mainly very soft to firm silty CLAY and stiff to very hard sandy SILT before encountering the hard layer (SPT-N >50 blows). These hard layers which are encountered at the southeastern portion of the Project Site, were terminated with minimum six (6) meters of continuous drilling. Ground water table of these boreholes ranged from 0.25m to 0.60m below ground level. The borehole details of the Project Site are tabulated in Table 3.1 . EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-7 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. Figure 3.5 : Location of the Boreholes within the Project Site EUROPASIA ENGINEERING SERVICES SDN. BHD. 3-8 EIA for the Proposed Mixed Development on Lot PT 1082 HS(D) 30726, Mukim Morib, District of Kuala Langat, Selangor for Sentoria Morib Bay Sdn. Bhd. and Sentoria Harta Sdn. Bhd. Table 3.1: Borehole Details of the Project Site No Borehole Ground Level Hard Layer Reduced Level of Termination GWT No. (mRL) (m bgl) the Hard Layer Depth (m bgl) (m RL) (m bgl) 1 BH 6 3.50 - - 30.450 0.25 2 BH 7 3.54 - - 30.450 0.25 3 BH 8 3.01 - - 30.450 0.40 4 BH 9 3.86 - - 30.450 0.35 5 BH 11 3.04 34.50 -31.46 40.570 0.60 6 BH 12 3.76 27.00 -23.24 33.355 0.25 7 BH 13 3.26 37.50 -34.24 43.565 0.55 8 BH 14 2.95 33.00 -30.05 39.050 0.50 9 BH A 3.84 - - 30.450 0.50 10 BH B 3.75 - - 30.450 0.60 Notes: 1) Hard layer refers to subsoil strata with SPT N > 50. 2) All the water levels were obtained during SI works (Before and completion of drilling works) 3) RL = Reduced Level; bgl = Below ground level; GWT = Groundwater Table Note : Results above is extracted from a Preliminary SI results obtained after SI boring, hence information may be unreliable. Source : S & M Geotechnics Sdn. Bhd., 2014 3.2.5 Soil Based on the Reconnaissance Soil Map of Peninsular Malaysia ( Pindaan 2002), published by the Ministry of Agriculture Malaysia, the entire Project Site is situated on the marine alluvium soil of Selangor-Kangkung Associations as shown in Figure 3.6. According to I.F.T. Wong (1970), the Selangor Series soils occur in level to slightly depressional areas. The topsoil of 6 to 10 inches thickness is dark brown (7.5YR 4/2) to black (10YR 2/1) clay, silty clay or organic clay that is slightly sticky or friable with a weakly developed fine subangular blocky structure.