KUCHING: The large number of fatal accidents on the Pan Borneo Highway trunk road should be good reason for the federal government to ‘upgrade’ the upgrading project ‘to highest priority’.
Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How said from January until now, the trunk road has claimed almost 100 lives and yet the government is still dragging its feet in implementing the upgrading works.
“Repeated warnings and calls have been made for the federal government to act fast to avoid more fatalities but it seems that nothing much has been done although we have a federal works minister from Sarawak.
“I think we should rename the trunk road to ‘Borneo Trunk Road of Death’ due to the high number of fatal accidents,” he said when contacted by The Borneo Post recently.
See, who is state PKR vice chairman, was asked to comment on the horrific accident near Pais in Betong on Wednesday that claimed four lives, believed to be Indonesians.
The victims died on the spot when the Toyota Innova they were in crashed head on with a lorry at about 10.30am.
Three of the victims were charred beyond recognition when their MPV burst into flames after the collision.
The Toyota Innova driver has been identified as Tinus Salleh, 45.
While expressing his sympathy for the families of the deceased, he said the government should be more serious by not delaying further the upgrading of the trunk road into a dual carriage way.
“The government is not doing anything to solve the problem. There have been so many reminders given to the government on how dangerous and narrow the roads are but the government is still sitting on this issue.”
See said he was not bothered about the BN government manifesto that it would upgrade the trunk road into a highway by 2015 but the number of fatalities on the trunk road should be taken seriously.
He also said the families of those who died in accidents on the Pan Borneo Highway should take legal action against the government.
Meanwhile, when contacted, a spokesman from the Sri Aman District police headquarters traffic department revealed that the identities of the deceased in Wednesday’s crash still could not be ascertained as their documents were badly burnt.
He said the police are waiting for the deceased’s next-of-kin to help identify the victims.
The result of the post mortem could not be obtained at press time.