I urge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, to make the Pan Borneo Highway which is still in it’s early construction stage, at least on par with the highway in Peninsular, instead giving empty promise that the highway will be on par with those in developed nations when completed.
Sabah road is not even on par with Peninsular standard, why should we talk about world class standard?
The Sabah roads quality is sub standard compared with those in Peninsular. For example, the gross vehicle weight (BDM) allowed in Sabah is very different from the Peninsular. The maximum BDM allowed in Peninsular is 53,000 kilograms and whereas for Sabah it is restricted to 38,000 kilograms, irrespective of the number of axle configurations.
Why do the BDM different between Sabah and Peninsular? Simply due to the carrying capacity of the bridges and roads here are lower than Peninsular, which indicates the road and bridge quality here is not as good as there.
The sub standard road quality in Sabah creates disadvantages in terms of lesser payload, higher unit cost, higher operating cost and other aspects.
In nutshell, it’s not enough for Sabah just to get a toll-free Pan Borneo Highway at an overall cost RM16 billion in next five years. Instead, a comprehensive package to upgrade all the existing 62 bridges of the federal roads in Sabah, 1,501km federal roads, and 10,747km state roads, is really in need.
It’s the obligation for Federal government to develop Sabah, please don’t capitalise the Pan Borneo Highway ground-breaking ceremony to fish votes in Sabah. We deserve to enjoy the highway with good quality on par with Peninsuar as Sabah is the equal partner to form Malaysia.