KENINGAU: Sabah's poor infrastructure, especially in rural areas, has been highlighted on social media again.
This time, a video clip of a group of students in Keningau, some 109km from Sabah's capital, risking their lives crossing a river using a water pipeline, has gone viral.
The 92-second clip was posted on a FaceBook account belonging to one Siti Hafizah Leezah, who lamented that the people of Kampung Mansiang Baru, Keningau, have no other alternative but to use the water pipeline during the rainy season.
She claimed the villagers had applied for a suspension bridge and an assemblyman had gone down to the ground in April this year and promised to help solve the problem.
However, she claimed that to date there has been no action, forcing her to upload the video on her social media.
When contacted, Tulid assemblyman Flovia Ng said she was aware of the problem and confirmed there was no bridge in the said area.
She said she was looking into the matter seriously for the welfare of the people in her constituency.
Meanwhile, Tulid community development leader Casmir Silip said the application for the suspension bridge had already been approved.
"There's already an approval to build a suspension bridge at Kampung Mansiang. The matter is with the Sook sub-district office which is setting up a tender to seek a qualified contractor for the project.
"The project with an estimated construction cost of RM100,000 will be implemented after identifying a qualified contractor," he told the New Straits Times over the phone.
The media has been highlighting several incidents involving students who risk their lives to go to school due to poor infrastructure.
In Nabawan, pupils use bamboo rafts and ziplines to get to school. In Sandakan, students use a dilapidated suspension bridge to go to class.
In the interior villages of Pitas, pupils risk their lives by travelling on overcrowded boats to get to school