KOTA KINABALU: The engineering fraternity and those involved in the road construction sector must work closely together with the relevant government agencies to ensure that a world class road infrastructure for Sabah is created and maintained.
Sabah Public Works Department (PWD) director, Datuk John Anthony, said, when it comes to road infrastructure, it is important to start on the right footing in order to avoid costly mistakes and risking plunging the nation into huge debts just to rebuild the necessary stretches that is vital for any country to prosper.
“Having good policies and planning is not good enough, and to translate these policies and planning into reality can be a formidable task without the right human capital, government machinery and private sector participation.
“All these need the participation of both the private and public sectors, particularly those who are actively engaged in the construction sector,” he said in his speech during a dialogue on the planning, design, construction and maintenance of roads in Sabah at the PWD hall in Sembulan, here, yesterday.
Anthony said, in the ever changing world, events have affected the environment, changed how one behaves in shaping the economy and overhauled the communication system to adjust to the changing needs of society.
“With the depletion of natural resources, especially fossil fuel, it is anticipated that its impact on our road transport system will be significant. Worldwide, about 80 per cent of freight movement of goods from factories to consumers depend on road transport.
“So, not only do we need to improve the technology in producing fuel efficient vehicles, there is also a pressing need to innovate and improve how we plan, design, construct road infrastructure and maintaining existing ones in tandem with present trends.
“Planning is the key word to start with any project and without careful planning, nothing can be achieved in the end. Road infrastructure planning consists of one of the most crucial planning policy in any country as it affects the well-being of a nation in terms of economic growth, transportation efficiency and security control,” said Anthony.
He added that it entails provision of transportation facilities for various sectors vital to economic development, generation of wealth preservation of ecosystem and the environment through sustainable planning, which he described as the key to today’s planning policy so that future generations’ survival will not be compromised.
Apart from planning, he said, the design and construction of road system are also equally important.
“There is very little doubt that compared to more advanced nations, our capability in design and construction, especially on road infrastructure, is still very much below par as we are still importing new technologies from these countries to boost our capacity in designing and construction of these stretches.
“With this in mind, I would like to call upon the local engineering fraternity to beef up their technological know-how and to bench-mark themselves against the best in the world.
“There remains much needed efforts to be done to produce first class contractors in road construction in the local market but with more exposures to advanced techniques and cooperation with experienced contractors from West Malaysia, I believe we can catch up with the best practices in the world,” said Anthony, optimistically.