PHASE 1B OF PAN BORNEO HIGHWAY IN SABAH TO BE COMPLETED IN SEPT 2028

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Phase 1B of Sabah's Pan Borneo Highway project is expected to be completed in September 2028 in an effort to provide better road infrastructure for the people of the state, the Sabah State Legislative Assembly was told today.

Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya said Phase 1 of the project is divided into Phase 1A which is expected to be completed in October 2026 and Phase 1B, and the entire Phase 1 involves 35 packages for the construction of 706 kilometres (km) of road.

Shahelmey who is the state Public Works Minister said that in Phase 1, a total of four work packages have been completed, 28 work packages are under construction, two work packages are in the procurement finalisation stage, and one work package is in the approval letter issuance stage.

"Phase 2 of the project which involves the Tamparuli-Ranau alignment over around 98 km, and Phase 3  from Kimanis-Keningau-Kalabakan-Tawau over a distance of around 432 km is still at the planning stage.

"Implementation is dependent on the government's approval and financial capacity," he said in response to an oral question from Appointed Assemblyman Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee about the latest developments and status of the highway construction.

In reply to Yong's supplementary question about the land acquisition for the project, Shahelmey said the total land acquisition cost for the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway Project Phase 1 involved a cost of RM2.53 billion, of which RM1.32 billion involved Phase 1A and RM1.21 billion for Phase 1B .

He said the payment of land compensation to land owners is completed through the procedure set by the Land and Survey Department including gazetting, evaluation, giving offers, accepting offers from land owners and then the payment process.

"Based on experience in the implementation of the Phase 1A work package, when the Letter of Acceptance was recently issued for the Phase 1B work package, the state Ministry of Public Works, the Sabah Public Works Department and the Ministry of Public Works formed a Steering Committee to ensure the smooth implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway project," he said.

He said one of the big challenges of the project is land acquisition, especially land under customary ownership.

Shahelmey said land owned by individuals or communities based on Native Customary Right (NCR) requires a longer process because it requires approval from the landowner as well as legal consent.

"Apart from that, the lack of human resources or manpower on the part of the Sabah Land and Survey Department in terms of making assessments also contributed to the delay in the assessment and land acquisition process," he said.

-- BERNAMA