SABAH TO BUILD TEMPORARY CONTROL POST AT SERUDONG ICQS TO ENHANCE BORDER SECURITY

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry (KDN) has requested additional funding to build a temporary control post at the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine, and Security (ICQS) Complex in Serudong, Kalabakan, the Sabah State Legislative Assembly was told today. 

Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the request was submitted on Oct 11 and is currently under review by the Economy Ministry, adding that it is an effort to strengthen border security. 

"The temporary control post is intended to manage the movement of travellers between Malaysia and Indonesia. This is because the location at Point A708 has not yet been agreed upon by Indonesia as a border crossing point or International Entry Point (PMA) by both countries.

"Currently, control at the proposed ICQS Serudong, Kalabakan site is being carried out by the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF), considering that the area is uninhabited. There is also Kem Luis located about 2.5 kilometres from the border, which MAF manages," he said.

He was responding to a question from Justin Wong Yung Bin (Warisan-Sri Tanjong), who inquired about the status of the ICQS Serudong project, including the construction of the access road that will link Sabah and North Kalimantan.

Together with the federal government, Sabah is developing two locations directly bordering North Kalimantan, namely Serudong, Kalabakan, and Bantul, Pagalungan, in Nabawan. The development is being carried out in phases based on the approval of allocations from the Economy Ministry.

Elaborating, Abidin said that to empower the economic sector in Sabah, the state and federal governments continue to intensify infrastructure development in the Sabah-Kalimantan border areas, including road networks, electricity, water supply, and telecommunications access, as enablers for growth.

He said in phase one of the development, Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) is implementing a 19-kilometre road upgrading project in the proposed ICQS site in Serudong, Kalabakan, with an allocation of RM21.1 million under the Third and Fourth Rolling Plan of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).

"The state government, through SEDIA, will request an additional allocation of RM12 million from the federal government to continue the upgrading work on the access road to the ICQS Serudong, Kalabakan, which is still 20 kilometres from completion," he said.

He said that under Phase 2, the state government, through the Works Ministry, is conducting a study for a new road from Kalabakan to the Malaysia (Serudong) – Indonesia (Simanggaris) border. 

He said the project had been approved under the Third Rolling Plan of the 12MP with an allocation of RM13 million, adding that the study, which kicked off in May 2024, is expected to be completed by December next year.

-- BERNAMA