KOTA KINABALU: The Penampang -Tambunan Road is expected to be passable to light vehicles next week, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan said.
Pairin being briefed on the work being done at KM45.9 Pairin6 Checking the damage at KM58.
It will however take another two weeks before the road can be used by heavy vehicles, Pairin who is also Infrastructure Development Minister said after conducting an inspection trip to see the ongoing repair works along the road, yesterday.
The total cost needed to repair the road including building a temporary lane at KM59.2 where a section of the road which was washed away by a landslide is estimated to be about RM25.5 million, he disclosed.
He added that the repair work could be completed faster if the weather was good.
“My inspection trip today is to personally see the extent of damage caused by the eight days of incessant rain earlier this month and the repair works that are being carried out. I saw about five areas where subsidence of the road had occurred but is still passable by vehicles.
“However there are three locations, namely KM45.9, KM55.9 and KM58 which have suffered very serious damage. Then at KM59.2, I saw that a section of the road was washed away when the slope failed, thus cutting off all road communication,” he said.
Pairin said from what he had seen, the road was still not passable to all types of vehicles and the Public Works Department (PWD) as well as the road concessionaires were doing their best to repair the road.
“I would like to point out here that PWD and the concessionaires are very concerned about the situation and have taken the initiatives to repair the damage so that the road can be passable by vehicles as soon as possible.
“I appreciate the work being done by PWD and the concessionaires because as the Infrastructure Development Minister, I want to ensure that the repairs are completed as soon as possible so that the rakyat will not suffer more inconvenience,” he said.
Pairin also expressed hope that the weather would improve so that the repair works could be completed in the soonest time possible.Pairin added that with the high cost of repairing the road every time there was a heavy downfall, the government needed to look at alternative approaches.
“One of the alternatives, in order to ensure maintenance cost is reduced and durability of roads will be further lasting, is building tunnels,” he said, adding that tunneling through hills was one very important consideration to be taken into account.
“The other thing we are hoping is that the federal government will give consideration in the matter of funding. First, in the context of the amount as we hope the federal government will consider giving the amount that we requested for.
“The other thing is timing; we hope the federal government will provide the fund as fast as possible because the faster we conduct our repairs, the better it will be for everybody. This can also probably reduce the cost because if the road condition is not repaired and another bout of bad weather occurs, then there will be more damage.
“So we hope the federal government will consider this positively and also consider the allocation required especially during conditions of bad weather so that we will be able to provide the necessary good conditions to the public,” he said.
Accompanying Pairin yesterday were State PWD director Datuk John Anthony, department officers and representatives from the concessionaires.