KUCHING: Lebuhraya Borneo Utara (LBU) has urged the government to complete the Pan Borneo Highway on time, within cost and ensure that it meets quality standards.
As the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the Sarawak portion of the mega-highway project in Sarawak, LBU said it was proud to have been able to perform its obligations to meet all the project milestones so far.
“We have been working closely with the federal and state governments on all aspects of project delivery from design, planning, governance, procurement, monitoring progress, ensuring quality, capacity-building, Bumiputera participation and more.
“The Telok Melano-Sematan stretch was completed ahead of schedule and below the target costs.
“Hence, if the government wants to take over the remaining construction stage, it is hoped that they can deliver the project to the people of Sarawak as promised and planned,” the company said in a statement here today.
It was reported the government had decided to terminate the PDP, however, the cabinet has yet to make an announcement on the move.
LBU had anticipated that it would not be terminated after having achieved a potential savings of RM2 billion and driving its contractors to meet their respective project progress timeline despite the rumours of termination of the PDP surfaced since the change in the Government in mid of 2018.
Market talk of changing the project’s implementation model had also proven to be disruptive to an efficient setup designed and agreed by the government to effectively deliver 786km of the Pan Borneo Highway across Sarawak.
“Rumours in the market has seen also parties involved in the project becoming jittery. This, in turn, had affected the good rate of progress achieved in the previous months. This is very sad as all this disruption may affect the continuation and overall completion of the highway,” the statement said.
LBU said the development of Phase 1 of Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak involved constructing a four-lane dual carriageway over a length of 786km from Telok Melano to Miri.
It was divided into 11 work packages comprising of 25 individual sections, the main contractors were pre-qualified based on preset and agreed technical and commercial selection criteria.
Each work package ranges from between 60 and 95km and the mainline comprises of 115 pairs of bridges, 25 interchanges, traffic barriers, road signages, overhead pedestrian bridges, rest and service areas, lay-bys and bus shelters.
The cost per kilometre is estimated at RM19.36 million, which covers utility relocation, road furniture across varied terrain including deep foundations and soft ground conditions mainly found in central Sarawak as well as costs to construct bridges and interchanges.
In ensuring a minimum 30 per cent participation of Sarawak Bumiputera in this mega project, the single largest infrastructure project ever for Sarawak, LBU introduced the Bumiputera Participation Programme, LBU added.
Today, it said the target had been exceeded with 32.34 per cent of the total contract value, where an equivalent of over RM5.2 billion of works is identified to be allocated for Sarawak Bumiputera contractors of various grades and capabilities.
“As of 25 August, the works progress over the whole 25 sections had reached an average of 45 per cent completion”.
By end 2019, it is expected that a total 395km of the first carriageway will be opened to traffic.
At the same time, works will continue unhindered on completing the second carriageway.