KUCHING, Feb 5 — Works Minister Baru Bian today said that construction of the second phase of the Pan Borneo Highway, stretching from Miri to Lawas, will start next year.
He said the construction will begin once a technical study is completed.
“I will look for the money for the second phase,” he told reporters at the Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen’s Chinese New Year open house here.
He said he does not know how much it will cost to build the second phase, described as the missing link, of the Pan Borneo Highway.
The first phase, from Sematan to Miri, is in various stages of construction while the 33km Telok Melano to Sematan stretch has been completed.
Baru, who is also Ba’Kelalan State Assemblyman and Selangau Member of Parliament, said he does not want any delay in the construction of the second phase with the proposed route to start from Miri to Limbang and then Lawas, without passing Brunei.
He said the route will open up the highlands and interior areas for development and other economic activities.
He said the second phase, once completed, will open up the interior of Miri and Limbang, through road connectivity.
Deputy Minister Tan Sri James Masing had recently expressed support for the construction of the second phase of the highway, saying that it would open up the upper reaches of Sungai Limbang and Sungai Trusan in Lawas.
Masing, who is also the state minister of communications and transportation said the state government had proposed that the route should originate from Marudi Town to Long Terawan then alongside the Mulu National Park at the border with Brunei, straight to Hulu Sungai Limbang, Hulu Sungai Trusan and then to Lawas town before joining Sabah’s stretch of the highway.
He had said the distance of the missing stretch is about 250km and it would cost about RM3.5 billion to construct.
