KOTA KINABALU: The proposed Trans Borneo Railway project will be a boon to the Borneo region, said Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
The project would link Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Brunei-based Brunergy Utama Sdn Bhd announced it would be embarking on the Trans Borneo Railway project, which it proposed to be implemented in two phases involving
routes spanning 1,620 kilometres.
The first phase will connect cities from the West to the East coast, beginning in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, and ending in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
The second phase will involve North and East Kalimantan connecting the main route with Samarinda and to the new capital of Indonesia, Nusantara.
"Once materialised, the project will be impactful to enhance people-to-people connectivity and economically, it will facilitate trade, promote growth of industries at the border areas and boost tourism in the Borneo region," he said in a statement.
Last November, Federal Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said his ministry had received a preliminary proposal on this Trans-Borneo Railway Project.
Nanta had said the idea for this mega-railway linking Sarawak and Sabah and eventually to connect to Kalimantan, came from the Transport Ministry.
The Federal government had also approved a financial allocation specifically to carry out a feasibility ground study on the Trans-Borneo Railway routes involving the Sarawak-Sabah side.