KUCHING, June 22 — Sarawak government has approved a RM160 million project to build a new bridge and dual carriageway roads to alleviate the traffic congestion in the Batu Kawa area, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.
In a statement, he said this massive and significant project under the 12th Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review (2023) includes the construction of a second Batu Kawa Bridge across Sungai Sarawak and a road with a total length of more than 5km.
According to the plan by Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak, he said the new dual carriageway will start from the existing Jalan Batu Kawa/Matang traffic light at Moyan and continue across the Sungai Sarawak and join the traffic light junction at Jalan Tan Sri Wee Boon Ping and Jalan Stephen Yong.
“This is a development plan by the Sarawak government and was approved by Sarawak’s Premier as a way to alleviate the traffic congestion in the Batu Kawa area,” he said, after a project site visit, where he was briefed by JKR Sarawak director Cassidy Morris.
Dr Sim added that JKR Sarawak will implement this project through four stages; consultants appointment, geological survey, land acquisition, and the fourth being public bidding/tender.
He said a 3-kilometer link road from Jalan Stephen Yong traffic lights through Segudup to Matang will also be constructed soon.
“These new roads will definitely ease the road congestion and reduce the driving time of many who live in and around Batu Kawa,” he added.
On a related matter, he also hoped Sarawakian MPs can fight for more development projects because the federal government collects all the road taxes and should therefore build more roads to help ease the bad traffic congestions around the state.
“This is the best way to address issues arising from rapid housing development, population growth, and increased traffic is by constructing more alternative roads to improve traffic flow,” he said. — The Borneo Post
