By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Mar 12: Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (MPKS) chairman Datuk Peter Minos is appealing to the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to solve the traffic woes at Kota Samarahan as soon as possible.
He observed that the traffic situation had become worse by the day due to increased residents and vehicles going through Kota Samarahan from surrounding areas.
Peter urged MoT to expedite the implementation of traffic lights at key roundabouts and the Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) system for the Samarahan line to solve the traffic congestion at Samarahan areas.
“We at MPKS have been receiving daily and endless public complaints about the traffic jams situation in Samarahan.
“Thus, we are appealing and urging the MoT and the relevant authorities to do something.
“We hope that whatever traffic management initiatives which were announced by the state government and the MoT such as the ART line between Kuching and Kota Samarahan and the traffic lights system will be able to reduce traffic congestion at Samarahan area,” he said in a statement.
According to Peter, the traffic situation is aggravated now in Kota Samarahan with increased traffic from nearby townships such as Simunjan, Sebuyau, Sadong Jaya and Asajaya using the new Samarahan bridge to come over to Kota Samarahan area.
Moreover, he also observed that there are vehicles from Serian, Tapah, Beratok and Siburan going through Kota Samarahan.
In 2010, there were only 10,000 units of residential homes in Kota Samarahan but at present, there is over 45,000 units of residential homes and massive expansion in student population in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in recent years.
Citing an example as a local resident, he noted that it took him more than one hour driving from Uni Garden, a residential area in MPKS which is located opposite Unimas to Stutong in Kuching South City Council area at any peak hour.
He opined that the journey could be completed within 15 minutes’ time at non-peak hours.—DayakDaily
