Projects to ease jam at Matang Jaya, Petra Jaya progressing well
KUCHING: The congestion at the Datuk Temenggong Abang Kipali roundabout here is expected to ease by end of this year, as the underpass project there should reach completion by then.
This development is progressing well, with 50 per cent of the works has been completed.
According to Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, the two- pronged approach by the government to ease traffic congestion at Matang Jaya and Petra Jaya involves two projects – the construction of an underpass at Datuk Temenggong Abang Kipali roundabout and a fourlane road that includes a bridge linking Matang Lee Ling with Stapok.
“The underpass will reach completion this November and a four-lane road linking Matang Lee Ling with Stapok by next February,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Fadillah, who is Petra Jaya MP, disclosed that the current status of the four- lane road leading to the bridge crossing Sarawak River from Matang Lee Ling to Stapok was about 50 per cent completed.
He said both projects, costing about RM200 million, were going according to schedule.
Fadillah also said that it was his hope that with the completion of these two infrastructure projects and the implementation of the Kuching Stage Bus Transport System, the traffic jam at Datuk Temenggong Abang Kipali Roundabout would be a thing of the past.
“The whole idea behind these infrastructure projects is to provide alternative routes to motorists to cross the Sarawak River. At the same time, we also hope that the ratio of commuters using public transportation could be improved as it ( public transportation) is being made more efficient,” he said.
Fadillah also pointed out that the speedy growth of emerging housing and commercial areas being built by the private sector in the Matang area had surpassed that of the infrastructure development being planned there.
“Thus, we hope the new public transport system and the new infrastructure being built including the underpass and new link road to Stapok would solve the traffic problems at the Datuk Temenggong Abang Kipali Roundabout in the long run.
“We believe that is the only way we can ease traffic congestion in the area,” he stressed.
On the proposed upgrading of the two-lane Matang Jaya Road to Taman Malihah junction into a four-lane road, Fadillah said the state government was bidding for the necessary funding from the federal government.
It is estimated that the cost of the upgrading works is about RM50 million.
The underpass will reach completion this November and a four-lane road linking Matang Lee Ling with Stapok by next February. Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Works Minister