Pan-Borneo Highway: Review ‘destroy and rebuild’ concept – activist
KOTA BELUD: The planners of the Pan-Borneo Expressway project which has hit a snag over problems relocating families affected by it (as reported in local dailies three days ago) should not have adopted the “destroy and rebuild” concept.
“The planners of the PanBorneo expressway have seriously put a foot wrong by destroying the existing Sabah ‘highways’ and rural roads, and then rebuilding a double-lane over them,” said Kanul Gindol, a social and political activist cum chairman of Gindol Initiative for Civil Society Borneo.
They should have taken the new expressway to a different route in less populated lines, perhaps parallel to the existing roads linking kampungs and towns in Sabah, he suggested.
“This way we would not have lost the existing roads, and on top of that we would have a new 4-lane highway next to it,” he said.
That would be the right way of building the Pan-Borneo expressway, not crafting it onto the existing roads, destroying them and tearing down hundreds of dwellings which have been developed along the roads over many years, putting unnecessary stress to human habitat, Kanul said.
He added that what the people really need is a new four-lane expressway in addition to the existing two-lane roads that had served Sabahans for the past 30 to 50 years.
“Witnessing the current Pan-Borneo highway development from southern Sipitang up to Papar and Donggongon, which I believe would be in the first five of the 35 packages in Sabah, we can deduce that the planners have failed to come up with a better design for the expressway.
“If they continued on this ‘destroy and rebuild’ concept, they would surely face more problems,” he said.
Kanul said that they would create new problems when they start destroying and rebuilding the next stages from Donggongon up to Tuaran and pass Kota Belud.
“Already I have been receiving reports from the worried grassroots in Kota Belud where surveyors and ketua kampungs ‘indicated’ the possible routes of the Pan-Borneo expressway.”
He said some of these kampung folks had asked good questions of “why must the government build the expressway through houses and kampungs when it can do it on an alternative route not very far from these peaceful matured dwellings?”
“I think the planners would do well if they employ a holistic approach and learn from other matured countries in building new and wider roads.
“For the route from Tuaran passing Kota Belud, I suggest the authorities build the expressway along the less-populated ridges of hills where road users would have enjoyed some of the most panoramic views of the South China Sea and the Mount Kinabalu all at the same time.”
They should re-draw their draft or plans to build the Pan-Borneo direct through kampung dwellings, tearing down houses and destroying these kampungs’ existing rural roads.
It makes more sense to open up new land areas and open new opportunities along the new road, than to destroy kampung roads and rebuild a wider one on them.
“I am sure many eco-friendly businesses would be created along the expressway as it takes one of the most breathtaking views in these areas.”
This way, he said, the kampung folks would not lose their kampung roads, and at the same time they would have the comfort of travelling on a new and wider expressway if they travel from town to town. It doesn’t make sense to force 500 kampung folks to come in and out of a busy expressway just to visit the kampung grocery store or to visit each other within a few hundred metres or a few kilometres within their kampungs.
Having said all these, “I think it will do good if the Federal and State governments do come down and listen to the grassroots especially those who could contribute bright ideas and not just those who agree with the government but grumble behind their back.”
“It is not wrong to have a participatory development. It should be the way forward for this country,” he said.