KOTA KINABALU: The Home Ministry is seeking additional allocations to build a temporary control post at the Serudong Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (CIQS) to enhance border security.
Assistant Minister to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the ministry submitted an application to the Economy Ministry on Oct 11.
"This temporary control post is meant to monitor cross-border travel between Malaysia and Indonesia.
""This is also due to the fact that Indonesia has yet to agree to A708 as a designated border crossing point.
"In the interim, the army has been deployed to secure the proposed Serudong CIQS site in Kalabakan, particularly given its remote location and proximity to Luis Camp, which is about 2.5km from the borders."
Abidin was replying to a question from Justin Wong (Warisan-Sri Tanjong) regarding the Serudong CIQS, including the route access that connects Sabah and North Kalimantan.
He said three projects related to the Serudong CIQS and road access had been completed.
He said the federal and state governments were implementing the infrastructure development in two phases.
In the first phase, the state government, through the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA), will build a 19km road access to the proposed Serudong CIQS at a cost of RM21.1 million under the third and fourth Rolling Plans of the 12th National Malaysia Plan.
He said SEDIA would request an additional RM12 million to complete the remaining 20km of road access to the CIQS in Kalabakan
In the second phase, the Sabah government, through the Public Works Ministry, is building a new road linking Kalabakan-Serudong-Simanggaris.
The RM13 million project, which kicked off in May this year, is expected to be completed by December next year.