By Ling Hui
KUCHING, June 9: The Pan Borneo Highway may not be fully completed by the end of this year as the Bukit Begunan section requires rework in terms of design and implementation due to its hilly landscape.
Senior Works Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof said the construction of the section from Pantu to Sri Aman will require more time, and thus may only be completed by the first quarter of 2023.
“It was expected that the whole stretch (of the Pan Borneo Highway) will be completed by the end of December (this year), except a little part at Bukit Begunan that may stretch until next year.
“Some reworks have to be done at that section, so that when the roads are done, they will be sturdy and safe enough for road users,” he said.
Another challenge, he added, lies in the Sarikei stretch where there are some issues that need to be resolved.
Fadillah said his ministry together with the top management representatives of Public Works Department (JKR) Malaysia and Sarawak, as well as contractors would soon gather to address the issue in Sarikei.
Overall, he said the Pan Borneo Highway is now at 85 per cent completion with the Kuching to Sri Aman section already up and running, and Sri Aman to Sibu section soon to be operational.
Regarding delays on certain stretches of the project, he explained that the contractor companies are still running at 70 per cent capacity in terms of manpower.
“Previously, during the pandemic, many foreign workers had returned to their own countries. And now many have yet to come back to Sarawak.
“This is the contractor side, another reason is because of material shortage. Quarries are not working at full capacity, so material supply like rocks and sand are not running at the maximum level.
“The third reason is the price increase for other raw materials like diesel and metal. We are now discussing with the Finance Ministry on how to tackle these issues to help those contractors with cash-flow issues,” he said when inspecting the construction of Sarawak Pan Borneo WPC04 at Temudok, Sri Aman today.
The road inspection today was part of the FTRoadpedia campaign by the Works Ministry. Prior to today, similar inspection works were held in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.
Among those also present was Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who is also the Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development. — DayakDaily
