ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Manyin (centre) taking a group photo with representatives of the `Road Safety Partners’ after the launching.
KUCHING: The state will continue to bid for allocations from the federal government to turn the trunk road between Kuching and Miri into a dual carriageway.
Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin said that was the wish of all Sarawakians.
“Compared with states in the peninsula, the standard of roads in Sarawak is still very, very far behind, and as minister responsible for road development in the state, I have received nasty messages through SMS (short messaging system),” he said at the launching of Road Safety Partnership 2012 organised by Sarawak Road Safety Department here yesterday.
“Like everyone else, I am equally concerned, and I have been going to Kuala Lumpur quite consistently to meet federal leaders on our requests. We are fighting really hard to get the existing trunk road upgraded into a dual carriageway, and, God willing, we will get the money within the next few years.”
Manyin said upgrading the trunk road had been found to be “very crucial”.
“With a dual carriageway stretching from Kuching to Miri, I believe we should be able to reduce the number of road accidents. Secondly, people will be able to save in terms of transportation cost.”
He sighed that at the moment many people still had to fly if they wanted to go to the central or northern regions, and vice-versa.
Manyin said building a dual carriageway would require a huge sum of money, but that should not be a problem if the federal government was serious about it.
“Unfortunately, the explanations given by the Minister of Works (Dato Shaziman Abu Mansor) during his visit to Miri early this year was that the number of vehicles using the trunk road was only 10,000 per day, and that does not warrant a dual carriageway.”
To have a dual carriageway, it seemed that the criterion is 20,000 vehicles per day.
“As a Sarawakian, definitely I am not happy with that kind of explanation.”
Manyin added that during that visit, Shaziman travelled from Miri to Bintulu to experience the road conditions firsthand.
“After the drive from Miri to Bintulu, he (Shaziman) told us that our road conditions were really bad … not just bad, but really bad, and added that it was beyond repair and need to be rehabilitated.”
Manyin said Shaziman had since given the state some money to rehabilitate those portions which were deemed beyond repair. Thus far, 12 kilometres of roads between Bintulu and Sibu had been rehabilitated.
On the 2011 Auditor-General’s Report, Manyin said the state would act on several road upgrade issues raised.
He said his ministry and the state Public Works Department (JKR) would discuss the report at a meeting to be called sometime this week.
The auditor-general’s report had highlighted that 175 projects in Sarawak were “less than satisfactory” due to delays and poor quality.
On the RM20.43-million Batang Strap Bridge in Sri Aman raised in the report, Manyin said his ministry would resolve the problem.
He said the bridge was to have connected the nearby town of Pekan Pantu to the other side of the river, but, eventually, the gravel road on the other side (of the river) delayed the work.
“So, we need to upgrade the gravel road before continuing the work.”
According to the auditor-general’s report, JKR had proposed the construction of the Batang Strap Bridge, forgetting the link road to the nearby villages.
sumber:borneopost
No comments:
Post a Comment