Marudi road project on track

by Philip Kiew, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 14, 2012, Tuesday

 

GOOD FEEL: Uggah (fourth left), flanked by Entrie (on his right) and Manyin (on his left), and others check out the Marudi road construction.

MARUDI: Army engineering corps brandishing ‘ahead of schedule’ score card. The RM59 million Marudi road project undertaken by the army engineering corps is progressing ahead of schedule, and looks set to be completed by Feb 16 next year.

Its completion would mean a smooth and time-saving trip between Miri and Marudi. At present, the land route to Miri is a precarious and time-consuming one – involving, among others, negotiating a plantation road and crossing Baram River and Sungai Arang by ferries. Alternatively, one can use an express boat from Marudi town, but the journey takes about three hours.

The proposed Marudi road is an all-weather one spanning 52km in length, and interspersed with six Bailey bridges – the longest one being at Sungai Arang.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dato Sri Douglas Uggah was elated that its construction had hit the 23.6 per cent mark at present, slightly ahead of the expected 19.7 per cent.

“I am happy with the progress. The objective of this project is to construct an all-weather road for the people and have it built speedily and at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods,” he after attending a briefing given by the Royal Engineering Corps, at the site office near Teniku road junction, yesterday.

Also present were Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industy Datuk Jacob Sagan, Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Water Supply) cum Marudi assemblyman Datuk Sylvester Entri, Ninth Brigade Commander Brigadier Gen Datuk Stephen Mundau, Miri Resident Antonio Kahti Galis, and DO Boniface Intan Apat.

Uggah, who has been tasked to oversee the implementation of projects approved by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for Sarawak, said the intention of the government was to solve the people’s problems and not making empty promises.

On the Bailey bridge to be built over Sungai Arang, he said it was yet to be decided whether to raise the height of the bridge structure or not.

 

DELIGHTED: The entourage were all smiles after attending a briefing at the site office of the proposed Marudi Road project at Teniku road junction.

One of the proposals under consideration by the authorities is to raise its clearance level from 20 feet to 40 feet.

Uggah remarked that the project boded well for the government’s commitment to deliver the goods to the people as promised.

During his visit there last April, Najib had announced the long-awaited project following a recommendation by his political secretary Datuk Shahlan Ismail, who had made a trip to the interior of Sarawak earlier.

The Marudi road project is one of eight infrastructure projects in the state undertaken by the army under its ‘Jiwa Murni’ programme, since 2009. Another two would be added to the list by April this year.

In constructing Marudi road, the engineering corps is using what is known as soil stabilisation technology for speedier construction and at a cheaper cost. For the Bailey bridges, they have adopted the modern version of its design.

Projects already completed by them are Long Luping- Ba Kelalan Road (75 km), Saeh Road, Sungai Trus Bridge and Sungai Kelulit Bridge, Kuala Mendalam Road (Limbang), and Lusong Laku Bridge (Kapit).

They are now working on the Belaga-Mejawah Bakun link road (38 km) and Rumah Dungat longhouse (Kuala Tatau).

In the pipeline are the Ba Kelalan-Bario road and four bridges in Bario. It is slated to kick-off by sometime in the middle of this year.