By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Sept 6: Mulu assemblyman Datuk Gerawat Gala has expressed dissatisfaction with the contractor of the 7km Marudi-Kuala Linai Road, which suffered a delay.
He urged the state Public Works Department (JKR) to advise the contractor to put in extra manpower and resources to catch up with the delay.
“By now, works on the project should be 5 per cent but currently the contractor has completed only 2.2 per cent.
“So, I advised JKR to ask the contractor to put in more manpower and resources to get the work progress back on schedule according to the contract,” Gerawat told DayakDaily, here, today.
The contract of the road project was awarded on March 25 this year and is expected to be completed in 30 months at a cost of RM43.5 million.
According to Gerawat, the 7km road is the first phase of the proposed 50km Marudi-Long Terawan Road, which he hoped could be completed by 2025.
“It is our fervent hope that when the whole stretch of road is completed, hopefully in the next five years, we will have better accessibility for nine major settlements along the road.
“Once the road is completed, we can also provide electricity from the existing state power grid, while telecommunication and Internet facilities can be made available to these local communities.
“This will open up opportunities for economic development to improve their income and livelihood,” he said.
Gerawat, who is also deputy speaker of the State Legislative Assembly, expressed optimism that the road project would enable the local to open up their land for agriculture.
“On top of that, we can improve accessibility to the Mulu National Park,” he said. — DayakDaily
