KUCHING: The hoisting of construction materials at the Jalan Song-Tun Jugah flyover project cannot be done at night as that will be dangerous, said PN Construction Sdn Bhd project advisor Simon Lau.
He stressed the lifting of materials by crane over the adjacent road could only be done in broad daylight although it might inconvenience motorists and the public.
“I hope the public will understand our position, otherwise how are we going to lift our materials, how do we supply our materials (to the flyover site),” he told reporters during a media update on the project and tour of night-time work at the site on Thursday night.
Lau was commenting on The Borneo Post’s front page report last Tuesday, which reported on the fear faced by motorists to see construction materials hoisted high above them as they pass that section of road.
According to Lau, personnel were now stationed at the road to monitor traffic flow whenever construction materials need to be lifted.
“Sometimes we try to stop motorists but they still insist on going over. You can check, we do have traffic control guys around all the time,” he said.
He said the lifting of the materials by the crane could only be done during off-peak hours, and motorists had to be prepared to be held up as the traffic could be stopped for five minutes.
“There will be a five-minute delay. We urge the public to cooperate, and we lift the materials over the road during off peak period only. We only lift from 9am to 12 noon and from 2pm to 4pm,” he said.
When told that the report was based on complaints that no one stopped the traffic when the crane was lifting the materials, he said: “I don’t know. We do have traffic officers on site full time; that I can assure you. But being humans, we have shortfalls. I apologise for that.”
The Jalan Song-Tun Jugah flyover project is the second flyover to be built by PN Construction in Kuching city. The first project was the Third Mile – Batu Kawah flyover, completed in 2003.
Lau said inconvenience was unavoidable because of the cramped working space at Jalan Song and Jalan Tun Jugah intersection.
“At the Batu Kawah flyover project, we have ample working space with minimal inconvenience to the public. But this junction (Jalan Song – Jalan Tun Jugah) is so tight, we don’t have a working area except for two green patches nearby.”
On various press reports and comments by politicians criticising the project, he said most of them were unfair to the contractors.
“Just like you renovate your house, when you stay inside during renovation, there will be some inconvenience. Here we are talking about a road with heavy traffic flow.
“If you say safety is not there, you can come up with suggestions for us to implement if we can do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, project manager Mohd Jimeno Jerusalem Abdullah appealed to the public not to beat the red light at the traffic light junction near the site.
He said there had been occasions when vehicles that did this got caught in the corner while turning into another junction.
“The waiting time and moving time from green to red has been increased to ensure motorists have enough time to make the turn. But some cars got caught in the corner because they beat the amber and red light.”
Work on the RM50 million dual-carriageway project started March last year and is scheduled for completion in 24 months’ time.