KUCHING, Dec 5: The 786km-long Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway is expected to be fully completed by the end of this year, says Sarawak Public Works Department (JKR) director Datu Richard Tajan.
According to a TVS news report, he said Sarawak’s aspiration to have its own highway materialised thanks to former Sarawak chief minister, the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, and former Malaysian prime minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak.
“To implement this project initially, the government appointed Syarikat Lebuhraya Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU) as the project implementation partner (PDP) until 2019.
“The government administration at that time then decided to terminate the services of this PDP, and the Sarawak JKR has been appointed Superintending Officer since Feb 20, 2020,” he said as quoted by TVS.
He said this at a dinner celebration in conjunction with the completion of the construction of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Sunday (Dec 3).
Explaining further, he said starting with the appointment of Sarawak JKR as the Superintending Officer to manage the administration of this project, the Pan Borneo Highway Branch under the department has been formed, consisting of engineers and local experts from various backgrounds to fully focus on the implementation of this mega project.
“For Sarawak JKR, the appointment is seen as an opportunity for many engineers and experts from Sarawak to contribute their expertise in similar projects in Malaysia. This proves that the department can handle large-scale projects at the regional or Federal level.
“Sarawak JKR welcomes this recognition as a challenge. Accordingly, the department reorganised every office to ensure more effective service delivery and focus on the people,” he said. — DayakDaily
