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PETALING JAYA: The progress of the Pan Borneo Highway will accelerate, and Phase One of the project in Sarawak is estimated to be completed in 2023, says Chief Minister (Works) Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof. The Sarawak stretch of the highway was only 53% complete, while progress is currently 34% in Sabah, it said.
The Works Ministry is even exploring the possibility of appointing project management companies (PMCs) to oversee the megaproject.
This feasibility was agreed in principle by Cabinet, where the PMCs would help the Department of Public Works in Sabah and Sarawak to effectively manage the project, he said.
“Contractors will also help oversee and monitor the project as we have received a lot of complaints in that area,” Fadillah said, adding that talks were also underway to examine the feasibility of PMCs absorbing former implementing partners. Project (PDP) to accelerate delivery works on the Pan Borneo Highway.
This is because former PDPs have the knowledge and skills to start work right away.
However, that would also depend on the PMCs as it was a business decision, and they also had to comply with the processes stipulated by the finance ministry, he added.
Fadillah said progress on the project was delayed by a change in the funding model under the previous administration, which ended the PDP model, while the resulting Covid-19 pandemic also threw a wrench in the works.
However, it would “take a little longer” to complete the Sabah part of the project.
“Of the 35 project packages in Sabah, 15 are ongoing and we are opening tenders for five more, so there are 15 more packages left,” he said.
Fadillah added that the allocations in the 2021 Budget would allow him to build a link on the Sabah part of the road between Serusop in Tuaran and Pituru in Kota Belud.
It is understood that it will eventually join Tuaran with Simpang Mengayau in Kudat at the northernmost point of the state, which is popularly known as the Point of Borneo.
“For now, the allocations of the Ministry of Finance in the 2021 Budget are only for the Serusop-Pituru section.
“Other phases will be done when there is additional funding, but the plans are still there and subject to the availability of funds,” he said.
Separately, Fadillah said the government was also working to increase local participation in the construction sector in order to decrease its dependence on foreign workers.
He said the ministry was working closely with partners such as the Construction Industry Development Board and the Ministry of Human Resources to train locals for skilled and semi-skilled jobs.
“At the same time, we want to include technology that can help the construction sector, such as the Industrialized Building System and Building Information Modeling (BIM),” he said.
BIM is a 3D model-based process that gives architecture, engineering, and construction professionals the ability to design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure efficiently.
“With such technology in place, there will be fewer 3D jobs (dirty, dangerous and difficult) as much of the work will be done in factories before being assembled at construction sites,” he said, adding that with the technology in place , the salaries were probably more attractive to the locals.
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