By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, July 1: The real condition of Jalan Kubur of Long Lama is a far cry from what the Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda) has described — “nearing completion”.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau was furious upon reading the news published by DayakDaily titled ‘Improvement works to Long Lama town nearing completion, to provide safer travel for 1,500 residents’ two days ago on Wednesday (Jun 29, 2022) which was written based on Recoda’s press release.
Along with the press release, DayakDaily also used a bird’s eye view picture of the seemingly completed road network from Recoda’s website.
Dennis said in no uncertain terms that it was “untrue” that the road was nearing completion.
In fact, he claimed that “nothing is being done”.
“The road (Jalan Kubur) is already there and it is in very bad condition. We have been complaining about it as the project has been delayed and delayed,” he said.
He further pointed out that he has been chasing after HDA (Highland Development Agency) for the improvement of the road as this is the road that the residents have been using on daily basis but to no avail.
“Nothing has been done and we are very surprised to read the news saying that the project is near completion, which on the ground is otherwise,” Dennis told DayakDaily in a telephone conversation.
He said at the time of when telephone conversation was taking place, he was at Long Lama, and was at the exact road shown in the picture published by DayakDaily.
“I am here at Long Lama now. It is completely untrue (that the road is nearing completion),” said Dennis.
He claimed that the progress of the road has been stalled and he believed that the contractor did not give the full picture to Recoda and HDA.
“They (the contractor company) just managed to put up a drain. Even the way the drain is laid is strange. The whole thing is just badly done.
“Nothing is being done. I have to get one guy to help tampong-tampong (patch the potholes) every time it rains. During the raining days, the road condition worsens. Even small cars cannot pass through,” said Dennis, adding that there is no one working on the road.
“How can the project be nearing completion when there is nobody working on the road,” asked Dennis.
Quoting a press release from Recoda website, DayakDaily reported that some 1,500 residents of Long Lama town, located along the Baram River about 140km from Miri, will see better and safer road connectivity as road upgrade works including drainages near completion.
The project, implemented by the HDA under Recoda, included the improvement of two internal roads and the construction of two reinforced concrete box culverts and surface drainage. — DayakDaily
