Sapit folk to have new gravel road soon
KUCHING: Folk of Kampung Sapit, a village tucked between hills in upper Padawan on the Sarawak- Kalimantan border, can now look forward to having a proper access road.
In the old day, the villagers had to trek for hours through bushes and rough terrains to reach the main road to get their daily provision in towns
However, a few years ago, a 3m wide cement trek was built from Kampung Parang to enable the villagers to travel by motorcycles.
Soon, in about a year’s time to be precise, the villagers will be able to move faster as a gravel road is now being built.
The public Works Department ( JKR) yesterday handed over let ter of agreement ( LA) to the project contractor Hav- Innovative Technology Sdn Bhd at Kampung Parang, about 63km from here, yesterday. It was witnessed by Assistant Minister of Transportation and Mambong assemblyman Datuk Dr Jerip Susil.
Dr Jerip said the contractor would build and complete a new R3 road from Parang to Sapit.
The new road is 3.2km from the main junction to Sapit. The construction will include putting seven precast pipe culverts and two reinforcement box culverts.
The scope of the project are ear thworks including site clearing, scarify, grubbing as wel l as roadway excavation and back- filling, complete with compaction.
Also to be bui lt are road pavement with compacted OCR and concrete surface, and road side drains.
“Clearing of access road from Parang to Sapit has actually been carried out since April.
“By Oct 9 next year, the people of Sapit should be able to use the new road,” he said.
Dr Jerip said a total allocation of RM10 million had been approved last year for the Kakas- Kiding and Parang- Sapit road projects under the Rural Transformation Programme.
He said the proposed KakasKiding road is now undergoing construction and is scheduled for completion on Oct 24 next year.
Each road project costs about RM5 million.
JKR Kuching divisional engineer Awang Mohd Fadillah, Kuching Deputy Resident Tuah Suni, Hav-Innovative Technology managing director Hemang Yu Abit and State Administrative Officer of Padawan Sub-District Rangen Jamang were also present at the LA presentation.