By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Oct 24: The traffic jam issue from Stutong to Kota Samarahan will soon be a thing of the past once all the roadabouts along the Kuching-Samarahan Road are upgraded into traffic lights and is scheduled to be completed in the next 15 months.
Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (MPKS) chairman Datuk Peter Minos is confident that commuting from Kota Samarahan to Stutong will be smoother and faster once the traffic lights projects are completed within the next two years.
He expressed hope that Kota Samarahan will also become more vibrant and could be elevated to become a city in the future with more economic and business activities.
“After 15 months from now, with the five roundabouts and traffic lights, life will be made easier and better for all. People and commuters will definitely be happy.
“When the Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) comes up in the coming years, (traffic situation) between Kuching and Samarahan will get even better.
“There will be new developments and I can foresee that businesses will see a boom and going up in Samarahan when the traffic problems are sorted out.
“With housing and property development coming up plus new government buildings, by 2030 Kota Samarahan will likely become a city. I am confident this will happen,” he said in a statement.
Minos said the people living in Kota Samarahan and Kuching City South Counci (MBKS) were delighted that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has answered their calls to fix the traffic jam problems along the Kuching-Samarahan road.
He noted that Abang Johari today performed the earth-breaking ceremony for the setting up of three traffic lights at MPKS area and two at MBKS area in particular from the Intan roundabout near Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) to Stutong roundabout in MBKS area.
He pointed out that the traffic congestion from Intan or Unimas roundabout in MPKS area to Stutong in MBKS is the worst in Sarawak.
Citing an example, Minos said it would take at least one hour during peak hours from Intan roundabout to Stutong but in non-peak hours it would take just 15 minutes to commute between the two locations.
Thus, he believed that the traffic lights projects will help to ease the traffic jam problem at Kota Samarahan while transforming the division into a new city in the future. —DayakDaily
