Published on: Thursday, July 21, 2005 |
Kota Kinabalu: The Dewan Negara sitting was told Wednesday that the Pan-Borneo Highway is 95.2 per cent completed.
Minister of Works, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, said of the total length of 1047.18km, a distance of 997.18km was completed in 2002.
"The only remaining section to be built is the 50km connecting road from Kalabakan to the Sabah/Kalimantan border at Serudong.
The Ministry of Works has proposed that the project be implemented under the 9th Malaysia Plan," he said.
The Pan-Borneo Highway is a road linking Sarawak and Sabah through Brunei. It begins from Miri City and continues through Kuala Baram, Brunei, Limbang district, Lawas district, Sindumin on the Sarawak/Sabah border, Sipitang, Beaufort, Papar, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Tawau and ends at Serudong on the Sabah/Kalimantan border.
On the Sabah side, the highway is linked to the Tawau-Merotai-Kalabakan-Sepulut-Nabawan-Keningau-Tenom-Sipitang main road.
This stretch joins up with the highway in Sipitang when the 56.1km Tenom-Sipitang section is completed at the end of 2006, and when the 145km Kalabakan-Sepulut section is built by 2008.
In Sarawak, the Pan-Borneo Highway joins with the State's first trunk road (928km) from Miri to Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching, and ends at Sematan on the West Kalimantan/ Sarawak border. The highway is divided into six road sections that are fully sealed.
Samy Vellu was replying to Senator Datin Naomi Chong Set Mui, who wanted to know the latest progress and when the highway would be completed.
She also inquired about the problem that caused delay in the project. The Minister clarified there was no delay in the construction of the highway, considering that its implementation was in stages since the early nineties.
"With limited allocation, it was not possible to build the highway all at once," he said.
