By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Jan 7: Traffic woes due to the ongoing Kuching-Samarahan Expressway construction should be a lesson for all stakeholders including local authority, implementing agencies, contractors and developers on the need to include mitigation planning in construction projects to minimise issues to an acceptable level.
Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said the current rescue contractor for the project involving the upgrading of five roundabouts to traffic light intersections may have neglected certain issues as they were focused on getting the construction done after the previous contractor failed to do the job properly.
“While we understand the frustrations and plight of the people, let’s move forward and take this as a lesson so that such traffic congestion issues will not repeat in the future.
“Our next concern is when construction at Stutong roundabout enters the critical phase. Hopefully it will after the Chinese New Year, otherwise there will be congestion there as the Stutong Market along the stretch is often busy,” he said during his ShallWeeTalk live session today.
With a temporary road now opened to enable road users to exit from Samarahan Expressway to Jalan Stutong passing through a private development area that hopefully will ease the congestion, especially during peak hours, Wee urged road users to inform local authorities if they experienced bottlenecks along the stretch for actions to be taken.
“We have also asked JKR (Public Works Department) and the contractor to alert MBKS as well as provide advice on any changes at construction sites including road closures to the public so they can plan their journey by avoiding the area or taking alternative roads when possible.
“We hope the rescue contractor can complete the project as soon as possible. Moving forward, I think public understanding and tolerance are very important for project implementation,” he added.
Wee also emphasised that MBKS will not hesitate to assist implementing agencies like JKR when needed to resolve any problems that may arise in project implementation even though it may fall outside of MBKS’ jurisdiction for the benefit of the people. — DayakDaily
