Periodic flooding of Kuala Lumpurs commercial center has dampened Malaysias ambitions for its capital to become a major international city. But by building a 9.7-kilometer- long water diversion tunnel, and putting a two-deck highway inside, local contractors are working to alleviate monsoon floods while showing a talent for novel engineering and smart financing. Click here to view map
Included as an afterthought, the unprecedented 3-km-long contractor-financed highway component is subsid-izing the $525-million Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) project, bringing it within the governments means. On two levels, the road portion will run through roughly the central third of the tunnel.