Newly-minted Works Minister Baru Bian revealed that the government has not yet made a decision on the review of the Pan Borneo Highway, reported The Star.
“We will look into it later. We have not made any decision yet…We will look at how best it can be implemented and completed, on the cost, feasibility and the implementation,” he said.
“Pan Borneo is the very first highway in East Malaysia and we are happy to have highways in Sabah and Sarawak.”
When asked on the RM29 billion project’s progress, Baru said 11 packages had been awarded for Phase 1. “At the moment, most of the construction is ongoing,” he added.
Set to be completed in 2021, Phase 1 connects Telok Melano in southern Sarawak to Miri in the north.
Phase 2, on the other hand, covers 77km to connect Sabah and is currently at the planning stage.
While it has been reported that the mega project will push through despite the change in government, the contractors for the project will be subject to an audit.
With 30 percent of federal roads in poor condition, Baru also revealed plans to ask the Cabinet for more allocations for the ministry.
This comes as the ministry had been receiving only RM600 million to RM800 million during the last three years, significantly lower from the RM2 billion needed annually to maintain federal roads nationwide.
According to him, the ministry will give special focus on five states – Sarawak, Sabah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis – which were in dire need of better public infrastructure.
“We will look at all states, all areas but we will give more focus on these five states, mainly on infrastructure like federal roads, highways and airports,” he said.
Image sourced from Edge Property
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