The significant impact of infrastructure projects on the environment has created needs to assess its sustainability and responsiveness which indirectly respond to carbon emission reduction. A rating system is widely utilized as a tool to analyze the sustainability of buildings or infrastructures. Malaysia is one of the advanced nations which applies in road green rating system, whereby two rating systems for roads are established; MyGHI for highways and pHJKR (Roads) for non-tolled roads. Preliminary study on pHJKR (Roads) identified that this rating tool assesses road sustainability performance only at planning, design & construction stages. Since the establishment of pHJKR (Roads), no re-assessment has been carried out after the roads begin to operate. Whilst in sustainability resiliency, it is important to sustain its engineering and enhance its performance and services including carbon assessment, under operation and maintenance (O&M) of roads. This paper highlights the methodology of development for assessment criteria and elements during the operation and maintenance phase. The methodology leads to proposed score development which later will be used in association to index indicator for O&M pHJKR (Roads). The data for this study is gathered and analyzed from a comprehensive review of current pHJKR (Roads) with a comparison made to national and cross-nation green road rating index. An expert panel discussion will also be utilized as a method of verification in order to identify suitable sustainability factors during O&M. The outcome of the study will be proposed for the enhancement of pHJKR (Roads) with assessment criteria for operation and maintenance phase and eventually leads to the establishment of multiple life cycle phases for pHJKR (Roads).

Green Rating System is utilized as tools to analyze the sustainability of buildings or infrastructures. Improvising green rating system is a continuous effort due to the needs of local implementation of a country. In Malaysia, there are two established rating systems for roads; MyGHI for highways and pHJKR (Roads) for non-tolled roads. Preliminary study on pHJKR (Roads) identified this rating tool assess road sustainability performance only at planning, design & construction stages. This study foresees, it is essential to sustain its engineering and sustainability performance, including carbon assessment under Operation and Maintenance (O&M). Therefore, this paper highlights the relevance and applicability of pHJKR (Roads) in comparison to other establish green road rating tools. The assessment criteria and elements during (O&M) phase are proposed for score development, which extensive research will lead to the establishment of O&M pHJKR (Roads). The data was gathered and analysed from a comprehensive review of current pHJKR (Roads) with a comparison other green road rating index. The expert panel discussion also was utilized to determine suitable sustainability factors. This study, in conclusion providing an opportunity to the enhancement of pHJKR (Roads), which offer a complete cycle of assessment in road project development of road Green Rating System.

Malaysia is on its path in adapting the green roadway system. The introduction of green road rating tools such as Malaysia Green Highway Index (MyGHI) for highways and Penarafan Hijau (pHJKR Jalan) for non-toll roads which the value of the projects are more than RM50 million are parts of the green initiatives taken towards the sustainable development in Malaysia. However, there is no specific green road rating tool focusing on rural roads in Malaysia. The rural road falls under the state road category, which contributes the largest proportion of the road network in Malaysia. The absence of specific green road rating tools for the assessment of the largest network of the road in Malaysia is seen as the gap that needs to be filled with a systematic approach. With that, this paper highlight the methodology of the study to develop a specific green road rating tool that suits the nature of rural road in Malaysia which is called Malaysia Green Rural Road Index (MyGreen RRI). It also aims to highlight a thorough comparative review of the established criteria of the existing international and local green road rating tools by using cross-national comparison. This comparative review leads to a set of proposed criteria to be used in MyGreen RRI. The analysis is later will be extended for the development of score and to be used for the assessment of MyGreen RRI. The establishment of MyGreen RRI as the later final output of is expected to benefit the nation in the environment, social and economic perspectives.

The rural road networks were built to connect the rural people to the town area or to other destination required by the local residents. Normally the rural roads will be developed to connect or increase the socio-economic opportunity in rural area. The green road is one of the key areas that can be look into to create the sustainable concept based on three key aspects namely social, environmental and economic factors. The main focus of the economy aspect is to increase the profits using more efficient resources, especially materials, improving the quality of life by meeting the national needs of social aspects and protecting the environment from the effects of CO2 emissions and efficient use of natural resources for environmental aspects. Therefore, it is important that stakeholders include sustainability criteria in their projects. The application of a sustainable concept on the road can be assessed by the green road evaluation tool. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to build tools to evaluate and declare green rural roads in Malaysia. The data for this study were gathered through group discussions with road construction experts and distributed questionnaires to identify sustainability factors. Then the data were analysed by factor analysis method using SPSS software. Based on the result, there are five main sustainable criteria: Sustainable Design and Construction, Social and Safety, Energy Efficiency, Environmental and Water Management and Materials and Technology that are included in the development of the green road qualification system. The analysis indicates that the social and safety become the prime criteria among other criteria.

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