Highway damaged by overloading
Published on: Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Forestry Department believes the overloading of trucks with oil palm, cement, steel rod, general goods and concrete was behind the damage to the Keningau-Kalabakan highway. A statement issued by the department on Tuesday said the narrow highway could also be a contributing factor to the damage as vehicles are forced to veer to the road buffer to avoid collisions. The department also made a comparison between roads to reinforce its arguments in refuting claims that the road was damaged by logging trucks. ADVERTISEMENT Such claims were made in a television programme which was aired recently. "As a comparison, the Sapulut-Tibow to Keningau portion is in a far better shape although it experiences a similar usage with the Kalabakan-Sapulut portion, which is the most degraded part of the highway. "The department believes that the two stretches were built by two different contractors."Were the specifications laid down and implemented of the same standard? Why does the Kalabakan stretch keep on breaking down? Were the materials used of the same quality and quantity?" the department asked. ADVERTISEMENT The department said the highway in question is a logging road that passes through forest reserves and technically built for the purpose in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It noted that the highway remained used largely by logging concessionaires to this very day as they were the legitimate land developers, along the highway from the Keningau-Sapulut region.
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The logs in land clearing are also sold via short-term licences, the department noted. "Due to the status of the lands that the highway passes through, largely forest reserves or in the vicinity, including sensitive areas (Maliau Basin, Virgin Jungle Reserves, etc.), the road in these portions, cannot be excised."The Keningau-Kalabakan highway is the only route for log hauling and this has been such for the last 60 years or more. "The average forest revenue that is sourced each year by using the Kalabakan Pangkalan/Log Pond is RM70 million or a third of Sabah's total forest revenue a year. This is the biggest source of timber revenue," it said. Towards this end, the department claimed there are no alternative routes for hauling logs to Kalabakan and building a new one will cause the loss of more forests and be prohibitive in terms of costs. It said no agriculture developers or those in the industry would dare to fund such projects as they were only short-term producers. According to the department, despite slapping fines of up to RM350,000 against those caught overloading the last seven years, the problem continued to persist, adding however, the penalties are administrative in nature and are not covered under the Forest Rules. "It is not the department's purview to look into issues under other laws such as registration of vehicles, road worthiness of vehicles, authenticity of road tax discs, driver's licences, weight of cargo and compliance.""Only logging vehicles and equipment come under the Forest Rules and this includes ensuring the logs on the logging trucks are not stacked exceeding the head, and that at least three strands of wire ropes are used to secure the logs, the lights are left blinking during the journey, canvas covers. "However, these are not necessarily complied with at all times," it added. Besides, the department also cannot weigh the cargo for assessing compliance on load weights but still most, if any assessments were to be done, they were based on 'visual guessing'. For example, the length should not exceed two metres of the truck body and there should not be more than 52m³ of logs per truck. However, due to the multitude species of different weights there is still room for error despite the volume of logs being the same. This is illustrated in the weight of a 10m³ of Belian log, which weighs much more than 10m³ of Binuang log. "We also do not think that updating forest laws is a better option to address overloading, as we are trained to manage forests and should not do the work of road engineers, which is beyond the training of our personnel. "At best, the cargo of logs should be safely stacked before disposal and leave the engineering issues to the experts and their respective laws," the department advised. The department also pointed out that the State government at a meeting of the State Action Committee, on Jan 28 last year made the decision for the Road Transport Department to establish a Weighing Bridge or Rest Complex to monitor usage of the highway, at allocation of about two hectares, which is not far from the entrance of the road leading to Maliau Basin.The site is strategically located within the Kalabakan Forest Reserve with the occupation permit approved by the Forestry Department.The complex is expected to be completed this year.It shall be manned and managed by JPJ with a task force comprising the Forestry Department, JPJ and other relevant departments.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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With the complex, the issue of overloading/dangerous loading /non-compliance of JPJ laws etc., will then be addressed objectively with no doubt. Hopefully, with penalties and further punitive actions taken, the menace of road damage can finally be controlled, if not eliminated.For those in doubt on the legality of the logs produced, unless there has been negligence, the logs come from licensed areas and are in compliance, of the forests laws, monitored by the Forestry Department and our third party independent auditors, it added.