The 33km-long Telok Melano-Sematan road, once fully completed in early 2019, will impact the life of around 8,000 people in Lundu and Sematan.

The road, which is part of the Pan Borneo Highway, will boost economic activities and contribute to elevating the socio-economic standard of the people, said Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof at a press conference at a resort hotel in Sematan here after leading an entourage of senior government officers, members of the media and the main contractor’s senior staff to visit several points along the road.

He also said the Pan Borneo Highway has been the main concern of the late Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

The 1,060km highway project is now Adenan’s legacy after he passed away on Jan 11.

Fadillah pointed out that the original plan was to build the highway from Sematan bazaar to Miri but Adenan had requested from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that it should start from Telok Melano in Sematan, adding that the stretch cost the government an extra RM580 million.

“So this is the legacy left by Tok Nan,” he said.

Fadillah, however, reported that work on the Telok Melano-Sematan road was slightly delayed but he was not alarmed by it.

“It (delay) is not critical (to the whole project). It is all because of the (unpredictable) weather and some land issues,” he said.

“When weather permits it, by March, pace of work will return to normal and the contractor could pick up from there,” he added.

The Petra Jaya MP also reported that progress on the package was 18 per cent when it should be 21 per cent.

He also said land acquisition was completed and compensation had been paid to the land owners.

The package involved 177 hectares of land, he said.

The Telok Melano-Sematan stretch is one of the 11 packages of the Pan Borneo Highway project linking Sematan and Miri.

When responding to a query, Fadillah said 30 per cent of the highway project was awarded to contractors with Bumiputera status and members of Dewan Usahawan Bumiputera Sarawak, Dayak Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and Persatuan Kontraktor Melayu Malaysia Sarawak chapter.

“All the main players have the element of Sarawakians – around 70 per cent of them,” he said.

The contractor for the Telok Melano-Sematan package is Samling Resources Sdn Bhd.

He said the other 10 packages are the 95km Sematan-Jambatan Sungai Moyan stretch which is also given to Samling Resources; 75km Bulatan Serian-Pantu junction stretch(Zecon-Kimlun Consortium JV); 89km Pantu Junction-Batang Skrang stretch (Naim Engineering- Gamuda Bhd JV); 68km Batang Skrang-Sungai Awik stretch (Endaya Consortium-Trans Resources-Pembinanaan Kuantiti JV);  64km Jambatan Sungai Awik-Bintangor junction stretch (PPES Works-Bina Puri Holding Bhd JV); 76km Bintangor Junction-Julau junction stretch (Hock Seng Lee-Dhaya Maju Infrastructure Asia JV); 63km Jambatan Sungai Kua-Jambatan Sungai Arip stretch (Musyati-Mudajaya Group Bhd JV);  65km Jambatan Sungai Arip-Bintulu Airport junction stretch (KKB Engineering-WCT Bhd JV); 77km Mile 5-Nyabau flyover-Bakun junction-Sungai Tangap stretch (Pekerjaan Piasau Konkerit) and 80km Sungai Tangap-Jalan Pujut Link stretch (KACC Construction-IJM-Perbena Emas JV).

The Pan Borneo Highway stretches up to Serudong in Sabah, making it a 2,300km-long trunk road.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Churchill Edward

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