Pan Borneo Highway still on, but some jobs to be reviewed — works minister

KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): The new Pakatan Harapan government will continue to roll out the 1,060km-long Pan Borneo Highway (pictured) linking Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, but the mega infrastructure project will be "looked into" to reduce its costs — expected at RM16 billion — said Works Minister Baru Bian.

"We know that the value of this project is huge and if there are ways and means to relook the whole thing ... [we will] see if we can cut cost. Not to cancel the whole project, that is not what we want to do," Baru, a member of parliament for Selangau in Sarawak, was quoted by Malaysiakini in an interview published yesterday.

To date, it has been reported that a 193km stretch is completed while phase one of the project, 791km in length, is expected to be completed in 2021.

Although some contracts related to the Pan Borneo Highway have been awarded, Baru said there are possibilities for the government to reduce the cost of the project. However, he added that the government will need to be mindful of the legal implications related to the review of the project.

“There are a lot of projects that we want to do but all these questions must be asked: whether they are necessary in the context of our economic situation. We cannot just stall all these because we need infrastructure to go on as a developing country. These are catalysts for development overall," Baru added.

To recap, the Pan Borneo Highway project was part of Barisan Nasional's election manifesto for the 13th general election in 2013, which was formalised by former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Budget 2015.

The highway, which was earlier estimated to cost RM27 billion, was originally planned for a total of 1,663km, of which the 936km stretch will be in Sarawak and the remaining 727km portion will be in Sabah.

As 11th Malaysia Plan comes to an end in 2020, Baru said the government will be creating new plans to tackle development issues in the country’s five poorest states of Sabah, Sarawak, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu.

“From our perspective and with my experience, we all know that Sabah and Sarawak have been left very far behind in terms of infrastructure development over the years.

“Although I am very aware of the fact that after the 11th Malaysia Plan is concluded by 2020, there will be a new plan that would perhaps bring in [targeted development] in Sabah, Sarawak and also in Perlis, Terengganu and Kelantan.

“We will look into all this as a whole.”

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 6, 2018.

For more stories, download EdgeProp.my pullout here for free.