KUCHING, Dec 10: The Batang Igan Bridge project, which connects the coastal road network in Sarawak and is currently under construction, is scheduled for completion in 2024.
According to a statement issued by the Works Ministry today, the RM285 million project is now being fully implemented by the Sarawak government, who took over the project after it was approved by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government but was subsequently cancelled by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
“The federal government has never postponed the project, which was supposed to start in 2018, but when there was a change of government after the 14th General Election, it was not continued by the PH government.
“PH also cancelled two other major bridge projects, namely the Batang Lupar Bridge and Batang Rambungan Bridge. However, the Sarawak government also continued the construction of these two bridges,” read the statement.
Referring to the Batang Igan Bridge project, the statement said that it was approved by the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department (EPU) on February 23, 2016, after a letter of appeal from the works minister dated November 24, 2015, was approved by the prime minister.
“A laboratory organised by the EPU was held on July 18 to 21, 2016 in Kuching, where a representative from the Matu District Office raised a request from residents who wanted the site to be moved from the original site to a location near the Kampung Igan ferry jetty.
“The Sarawak Public Works Department (JKR) obtained approval for the bridge site earlier from the State Planning Authority (SPA) to build the bridge approximately 7-8km upstream of Kampung Igan and preliminary works were completed in 2016.”
However, the statement said that the site transfer delayed the implementation of the project because preliminary works had to be redone, with it taking at least a year. Therefore, projects initially expected to start in 2017 could only begin in 2018.
“Calls for tender were also made on September 20, 2017, and closed on December 18, 2017, with the Ministry of Finance giving approval to the contractor company on April 2, 2018.
“Unfortunately, the project was postponed by the Ministry of Finance under the PH government on August 3, 2018.
“In early 2019, the PH government decided not to proceed with the project of three bridges — Batang Igan , Batang Lupar and Rambungan bridges, which the State government later took over to ensure that the coastal community are not marginalised from the mainstream of development.” — DayakDaily
