‘PROJECT WILL BE COMPLETED ON TIME’
Pan-Borneo Highway to be ready by 2022 despite hiccups during construction period, assures deputy minister
THE Works Ministry has assured that the PanBorneo Highway project in Sabah and Sarawak will be completed on schedule despite some technical problems faced during the construction period.
Deputy Works Minister Mohd Anuar Mohd Tahir said in the event of technical cases such as sink holes and other similar cases, the Public Works Department (PWD) would handle such tasks.
“We do not want such incidents to be the cause for the delay in completion of the PanBorneo Highway.
“We will act fast and solve it as soon as possible, so that it will not affect the highway’s construction timeline,” he said after the launch of the Pantai Sentral Park Interchange, here, yesterday.
Recently, an afternoon downpour damaged parts of the highway at KM48 Jalan BintuluTatau, affecting traffic flow in the area.
“The PWD is searching for the potential danger locations to prevent the occurrence of landslides in the future,” he said.
The 2,325km Pan-Borneo Highway stretches from Sabah to Sarawak, passing through Brunei and connects to the Trans-Kalimantan Highway Indonesia road network.
The two-lane highway is funded by the Federal Government at an estimated cost of RM29 billion and is scheduled to be completed by 2022.
Meanwhile, Mohd Anuar said the involvement of private entities had helped the government to modernise the country’s infrastructure, especially through the construction of the NorthSouth Expressway and industrial centres.
“To date, there are 29 highways with tolls that provide a total of 1,988km of roads nationwide, providing basic infrastructure and creating high impact connections.”
He said highways and roads would need to be repaved every five to seven years to maintain their good condition.
“Hence, more allocations are needed for maintenance to ensure the road infrastructure remains safe and convenient for use,” said Mohd Anu a r.