RM423m for upgrading of Pan-Borneo Highway
MIRI: An allocation of RM423 million has been approved by the federal government for the upgrading of the 2,230km Pan- Borneo Highway linking Sarawak and Sabah.
Works Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor announced this during his visit to several federal project sites, near here yesterday.
For Sarawak, the allocation for upgrading the 1,077km Pan- Borneo Highway from Sematan, Lundu to Merapok, Lawas i s RM211.5 million.
Shaziman elaborated that for the first phase of the upgrading project beginning this year, the federal government will spent RM100 million - RM50 million for Sarawak and another RM50 million for Sabah.
“For Sarawak, the project will be focusing on the roads at Miri, Bintulu and Sibu in its first phase because these roads are vital for commercial transportation to enable heavy trucks to reach the various ports and factories.” Bes ides road resur fac ing and patching works to facilitate smooth traffic flow, Sharizan said the upgrading includes immediate plans to construct overtaking lanes, especially at hilly road sections.
“The reason for not constructing dual -car r iageway way i s because based on studies, the average vehicular activities on the material stretches of roads concerned is recorded at approximately 10,000 vehicles per day,” said Shaziman, adding that 20,000 vehicles per day is the minimum requirement for a dual-carriageway to be feasible.
Apart from that, he explained that the government has identified certain dangerous stretches along the Pan-Borneo highway and is looking to improve road conditions at the accident prone areas.
“The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) is also discussing and assessing on the studies of constructing overtaking lanes all the way from Sematan to Lawas, involving about 95 to 100 overtaking lanes.
“But we will proceed first with the priority areas and not wait for the (entire) studies to complete,” he said.
Me a n w h i l e , S h a z ima n explained that the quality of federal roads in Peninsula Malaysia and Sarawak is the same and standardised, hence we should not compare roads here solely with that in Kuala Lumpur.
“Kuala Lumpur is different.We should not use it as a comparison because the amount of traffic activities in KL is much higher, coupled with the fact that many of the roads and highways in the capital are paid and funded by road users through collection of tolls fees.
“If the road users in Sarawak are willing to pay toll, then we are willing to build roads here at par with that in Kuala Lumpur and other major highways in Peninsula Malaysia,” he said.
The Minister also visited project sites at Pujut 7, Tudan and Kuala Baram where construction works had been ongoing since April last year.
According to Shaziman, these projects which were deemed as high priorities were divided into two phases.
Speaking to reporters, he said he had urged the contractors involved to complete the Phase 1 as per scheduled including the bridges, overhead bridges and roads with the hope that the infrastructures can be opened for public use by July 2012.
As for Phase 2, he informed that it would be scheduled for completion by April 2013.
“When completed, road users going to the ASEAN Bridge (near Sungai Tujuh to Brunei) will be able to shorten their traveling time,” he added.
Shaziman assured that al l upgrading works would be carried out from time to time and not only during a certain given period.
Accompanying the Minister of Wor k s we re Mini s t e r of Inf rast ructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong, Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin and Political Secretary to Datuk Seri Peter Chin, the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Green Technology, Dato Sebastian Ting.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 Written by Elmer Yeo & Zainon Talip
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