SRI AMAN, June 9 — The government is ready to assist contractors of the Pan Borneo Highway project who are struggling with labour shortages and higher costs of construction materials following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said when the pandemic hit, many workers involved in the project returned to their countries of origin.

He said this resulted in contractors of the highway project now working with only 70 per cent of the workforce compared to the pre-pandemic capacity.

Apart from that, Fadillah said the supply of raw materials such as stones and sand had been affected by the closure of quarries and mines.

"The higher costs of diesel, steel and other basic materials for construction (also have an impact).

"We will identify the solutions and we are also discussing with the Ministry of Finance to address the rising cost of construction materials,” he told reporters who participated in the FTRoadpedia Sarawak Tour programme, here, today.

The tour, from today to June 1 and organised by the Ministry of Works, is to enable the participants to view developments of the Pan Borneo Highway by crossing the districts of Kuching, Bintulu, Sibu and Miri.

Fadillah said despite the challenges, the completion status of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway was now 83 per cent.

He said that one of the 11 packages had been fully completed with the total length of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway from Telok Melano to Pujut Link Road, Miri, being 786km (which commenced in October, 2015).

He added that some of highway packages were behind schedule, but were not categorised as sick projects as they could still be completed. — Bernama