Sibu Jaya poised to become state’s transportation hub — SRDC deputy chief

SIBU: Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) deputy chairman Robert Lau Hui Yew is pushing for Sibu Jaya to be made a transportation centre, believing that the strategic location of the township in the middle of the Pan Borneo Highway should be capitalised on.

“If you look at the map from Sematan to Lawas, Sibu is at the centre and by-pass Sibu Jaya. Going into Sibu town is another 25km and thus, Sibu Jaya can be a natural stopover – even for overnight.

“Develop Sibu Jaya and I will be pushing along that line to create more public facilities for the transporters to use; we have to seize that opportunity – not just talking about it, but actually doing it,” he told reporters after officiating at the ‘ Drawing And Colouring Competition With Family’ at Delta Mall here recently.

He pointed out that the central zone is huge, where the means of transportation has begun to change from river system to roadbased system.

“We have such a geographical landmass where we need a lot of transport and they (transporters) need a hub – even one for distribution and repairs.

“Say you want to send your goods from south to north; you need to stop over at one place. Sibu Jaya is that place,” he said, highlighting such hubs in major cities around the world.

“For example, it takes three to four days to cross the interstate from New York to Los Angeles. Right at the centre, the city of St Louis becomes the transportation hub.

“Within eight hours, transporters could cover up to 80 per cent of population,” Lau pointed out.

“So, I can say that for Sibu Jaya – if you drive for eight hours, you could actually cover about 90 per cent of population of Sarawak,” he added.