Noise Pollution Near to the Construction Site in an Urban Area (A Case Study in Shah Alam)

Abstract

In the new era of modernisation, numerous construction and urbanisation project were conducted in Malaysia, especially in the urban area. Without neglecting the purpose of modernisation, noise emission from construction and urbanisation projects should be highlighted. High levels of noise commonly occur in urban areas where there are residential, commercial and educational areas. Traffic noise itself has affected the health of the community nearby and with the presence of construction projects, noise pollution has increased. In this study, two locations have been chosen as a case study, where the area in Seksyen 7 and Seksyen 9, Shah Alam. The purpose of this study is to investigate either the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project is one of the contributors to noise pollution or not. There are two methods of study were chosen which is a set of questionnaires is distributed to the community who live nearby the construction site to evaluate the effect of noise pollution and the acceptance of the community towards noise emission from construction site. Other than that, noise level is also measured using Decibel X application  to strengthen the finding through the questionnaires. It is proved that the noise emission from construction sites is disturbing and affects the community’s health. The calculated LAeq also showed that the construction site was noisier compared to non-construction site for both weekdays and weekends.