BN government incapable to upgrade Pan Borneo Trunk Road
It is rather upsetting and felt very disheartened when listening to the comments made by the Federal Assistant Minister of works Datuk Yong Khoon Seng who recently commented that if the government has to upgrade the Pan Borneo Trunk Road from a single lane road to a Dual Carriageway, Malaysian will have to pay toll of RM0.60 per kilometer. If for a 1000 km road we will have to pay a total of RM600, as he sided from Miri to Kuching in Sarawak. He said it will be better to fly by air than by paying RM600 to travel on a high quality road. He also said if we want our road to be like those in Peninsular Malaysia, the cost is RM30 million to RM40 million for every kilometer. He continued to explain that the BN government will continue to upgrade the Pan Borneo Trunk Road until 2025.
It is unreasonable to site such an example and this reflected the incapability of the BN government to deliver and execute their responsibility to bring better roads and infrastructures to the people who had supported them all this while. The people are getting all sorts of excuses and story to cover the thing that the BN had not deliver and cannot do. The example of using RM30 to 40 million to construct a dual carriageway is ridiculous and outrageous. Any road contractor (not BN contractors or cronies) will tell you that the quoted price is “sky high” and it is a price that no one will believe. This is proven by himself when he said in Sabah to upgrade the 1,200 km of trunk road from current the R3 standard (single lane carriageway) to R5 standard (Dual carriageway) will need RM7 billion. This works out to be RM5.833 million per kilometer. How come he said RM30 to 40 million per kilometer construction cost?
Anyhow, in Sabah there are substandard roads which are part of the Trans-Borneo or Pan-Borneo Highway. The condition of the roads are really bad especially the stretch linking from Telupid to Sandakan, Labuak Road Mile32 Check-point to Lahad Datu, Tawau to Kalabakan, Kalabakan to Sapulut. The road from Kota Kinabalu to Sipitang should long be upgraded to R5 standard dual carriage, but until today there is no sight of any planning and work being carried out. One thing for sure is that the people will continue to suffer and risk their life on these treacherous roads. The safety of the road users have been compromised because there are so many road accidents occurring now and then.
The people in Sabah and Sarawak are not demanding the same high standard like those roads in the West Malaysia because we know we will be penalized by paying high toll money to the BN cronies like what the West Malaysian are paying. We merely asked for a standard road with level surface without potholes and bumps, and with enough road lights and road signs, is this something too much to ask for? BN cannot deliver but choose to tell us and bully us by telling us that it is very expensive to build us the R5 standard dual carriageway. Sabahan will not be threatened by this type of irresponsible talk from the Works Minister. If they cannot do it, it is better for them to hand over the job and let Pakatan Rakyat to carry out.
