Fadillah (left) talks at the online symposium on ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Infrastructure Development in Borneo’.
MIRI (Sept 11): Works on Sarawak-Sabah Link Road (SSLR) is expected to start this month and will be completed in 2026, says Senior Minister of Works Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof.
The 425 km SSLR is a land route connecting Sarawak and Sabah from Miri bypassing Brunei thereby doing away with the hassle of immigration and customs checks at the Sarawak-Brunei border.
The first phase of the project is a 77km road under the Ministry of Works from Lawas to Long Lopeng junction (first phase) which will provide smoother and safer travel to Sarawak’s interior, which is now still using logging roads.
“The road is expected to spur the growth of eco and agro-tourism in the surrounding areas apart from providing easier access to education and healthcare.”
The minister said this in his keynote address at an online symposium ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Infrastructure Development in Borneo’ organised by Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Miri branch in collaboration with Curtin University Malaysia.
Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin, IEM president Ong Ching Loon, Recoda CEO Datu Ismawi Ismuni,Curtin Malaysia pro vice chancellor Professor Simon Leunig were also in attendance.
On the Pan Borneo Highway project, Fadillah said work progress on the 786km of road and bridges from Telok Melano to Miri in Sarawak was now 70 per cent completed. Sabah notched 56 per cent completion of the proposed 706km road from Sindumin to Tawau.
He added the ministry also proposed to upgrade the road from Kuala Baram junction to CIQ Sungai Tujoh in Miri, and to complete it by 2025.
This road will connect the Pan Borneo Highway (Sarawak) to the Sarawak-Sabah border to cater to the high traffic volume for the only road link to Limbang, Lawas and Brunei.
According to Fadillah , the challenges of the Pan Borneo Highway project are limited access to sufficient manpower and construction materials; insufficient local qualified contractors and subcontractors; difficult topographical terrains, limited funding for planned and earmarked projects; and policy and regulations in implementation.
He said the construction industry in Malaysia must embrace construction industry needs to fully embrace IR 4.0 by using less unskilled workers and more automation.
He said he is looking forward to the symposium participants supporting the government’s efforts by leveraging on technologies and data systems, innovation and automation at every level of their operations to build quality and sustainable infrastructure.
One of the initiatives taken by Malaysia to enhance the transnational infrastructure development in Sabah and Sarawak is through the commitment made under the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area( BIMP-EAGA) to enhance connectivity within and outside the region, and promoting people-to-people connectivity through socio-cultural understanding and increasing mobility.
Pending under the BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025 is the upgrading of the Kalabakan road in Serudong, Tawau to connect Simanggaris in East Kalimantan.