Malaysia Dam Safety Management Guidelines (MyDAMS) – From Best Management Practices to Capacity Building in Dam Engineering in Malaysia

Abstract

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID) has established a national guidelines on dam safety management for a safe governance of dams and resilient community surrounding the dams in Malaysia, titled Malaysia Dam Safety Management Guidelines (MyDAMS) in September 2017. This is the first national guidelines ever established. While the guidelines outline the best management practices on dam safety management, there is still a major gap towards its implementation into the dam industry. MyDAMS emphasized on all aspects of dam safety comprising legal requirements, potential hazards, safety principles, safety management system, investigation, design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance, surveillance and safety review, rehabilitation, emergency preparedness, changes and decommissioning of dams. There is a need to establish the framework of the government agencies towards its dam safety management as per MyDAMS. Meanwhile, the stakeholders have to gear up immediately towards capacity building to achieve the overarching objective of dam safety management as stated in MyDAMS. This paper discussed some required framework and way forward to be carried out by stakeholders on what entail next after the recent establishment of MyDAMS.