KUCHING, Aug 6: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing has reiterated on the need to build a Border Highway along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border in order to protect the country’s assets.
According to Masing, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development (MIPD) has also sectionalised the construction of the Border Highway in parts according to the priority.
“The Border Highway (about 1,000km) which was proposed earlier this year, is to match what is happening in Kalimantan, in terms of security for Sarawak,” he said in a statement, today.
He added, the sections which are urgent are the ones nearest to Hydroelectric Plan (HEP) dams, which are in Bakun, Murum, Baleh, and Batang Ai.
On Jan 19, Masing, who is also State Border Security Committee chairman (SBSC), proposed to build a 1,032-km highway along the border from the Biawak Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (CIQS) complex, all the way up to Lawas, with an estimated cost of RM24 billion.
He explained the need to build walls or fences at the strategic places along the Malaysia-Indonesia border in Sarawak, was also to curb the influx of illegal immigrants into the State.
In 2019, Indonesia President Jokowi Widodo announced that the national capital will be moved from Jakarta, which is on Java island, to the province of East Kalimantan in Borneo and it will include the government’s administrative function. — DayakDaily
