KOTA KINABALU, April 23 — The land acquisition cost for the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah is four times higher than Sarawak’s due to the difference in widths of existing corridors in the two east Malaysian states, State Works Minister Datuk Shahelmy Yahya said today.
Shahelmy said that the government has so far paid out RM1.147 billion in land and structure compensation in Sabah, leading Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to question the disparity from Sarawak, where costs have amounted to RM133 million.
“The amount of land and structure compensation in Sarawak is lower compared to Sabah because in Sarawak, their existing road corridors are 100 metres wide. Whereas in Sabah, the existing corridors are only 30 metres wide,” Shahelmy said in the state legislative assembly.
“The policy implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah and Sarawak is to upgrade the existing main Federal roads. However, considering that the existing Federal roads are single-lane two-way roads that require being upgraded to dual-lane two-way roads, it involves acquiring wide swathes of land,” he said.
“So because in Sarawak, the existing corridors are already 100 meters wide so they can offer less compensation compared to Sabah. In Sabah, we are only acquiring land but also compensating affected houses or structures,” he added.
Shafie, who pointed out that Sarawak has not only paid less, but is far ahead in its Pan Borneo Highway, has also asked for the compensation packages in detail which Shahelmy said would be given to him in written form.
Earlier, Shahelmy said that during the Project Delivery Partner system of the project before 2019,a total of 12 packages amounting to RM 651,000,000, was paid out.
It involved a total of 1,591 land and structure owners.
“Up to this year, until April 1, 2024, the total compensation paid for land and structures amounts to RM1.147 billion,” he said.
