Nearly RM200 million in federal funds for road maintenance in Sarawak – Nanta

The federal government has allocated close to RM200 million for periodic road maintenance in Sarawak since last year, said Works Minister Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

He said this included RM105.9 million under the 2024 National Budget, thus underlining Putrajaya’s sensitivity to the need for road maintenance works in Sarawak.

“In 2022, Sarawak received an allocation amounting to RM81,237,562, while in 2023 it was RM82,185,717, and in 2024 it will jump to RM105.9 million.

“We can see here that Sarawak has seen a lot of increase for the last two years,” he told reporters at here yesterday.

Nanta and his ministry’s officers were here yesterday to check on the progress of the implementation and planning of federal roads.

On road maintenance, he said federal roads in Miri Division, which are maintained by concessionaires, combine for a total length of 85.76km, of which 44.03km are protocol roads and 41.73km are primary roads.

“An estimated allocation of RM2.8 million per year is required to carry out the routine maintenance here,” he added.

For road pavement surfaces damaged due to age and are at a critical level, he said RM4.6 million has been allocated this year for three locations under the maintenance programme; RM0.8 million for the implementation of periodic non-pavement maintenance involving four locations; and RM0.3 million for minor repairs of Sungai Lutong Bridge.

The ministry has also approved a sum of RM0.5 million for the payment of street lights and traffic lights bills, and a sum of RM0.3 million for the maintenance of traffic lights, said Nanta.