No point negotiating, just block the road, Masing says

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JPJ enforcement officers stopping three logging trucks along the Bintulu-Miri Road and slapped them with three summonses each; namely on long loads, dangerous loads and technical fault with each summons carrying a fine of RM300.

KUCHING: There is no point for the Ministry of Works to negotiate with loggers and plantation owners in Bakun area over the ‘lori hantu’ issue, said Land Development Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing.

Instead, he suggested that the ministry just proceed to build barricades to prevent the overloaded illegal lorries from destroying the Bakun Road and endangering the lives of other road users.

“I have read The Borneo Post article on Bakun Road this morning (yesterday). Don’t think of constructing barricades at Bakun Road, just do it. These loggers don’t understand the meaning of negotiation or that the Bakun Road is not built for them to use.

“I have suggested the use of barricades many times in the past. So just build them before more accidents occur and many more lives are lost,” Masing told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Masing, who was on leave overseas, was reacting to the plan by Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof to hold a meeting with both the loggers and plantation owners in Bakun area to find an amicable solution to the long outstanding issue of ‘lori hantu’ plying the 120km road.

On Tuesday, Fadillah said if the loggers and plantation owners refused to cooperate, his ministry would have no other choice but to erect barricades in certain areas along the road.

“That (building of barricades) we will have to do if the talks with the timber companies and plantations owners fail. After all there is an alternative road which they can always use,” Fadillah had told The Borneo Post.

In a short message service (SMS) to Masing at about 8.30pm on Wednesday, a road user surnamed Liu complained that he and other passengers of a vehicle almost got into an accident with a ‘lori hantu’ at Tubau-Bakun Road while on their way back to Bintulu.

“It was raining heavily when a ‘lori hantu’ travelling in the middle of the road narrowly missed us. It was God’s grace that saved us. Please set up a permanent Road Transport Department (JPJ) checkpoint here instead of the daily operations by JPJ officers from 10am to 4pm,” he pleaded.

Liu had also forwarded the SMS to Belaga assemblyman cum Assistant Minister of Culture and Heritage Liwan Lagang, Hulu Rajang MP Wilson Ugak Kumbong and state JPJ chief enforcement officer Albert Clement.

Meanwhile, Albert revealed that JPJ enforcement personnel had been on their toes ever since the state government declared an all-out war against illegal logging recently.

Yesterday, Albert said his men stopped three overloaded logging trucks along the Bintulu-Miri Road and slapped them with three summonses each; namely for long loads, dangerous loads and technical fault with each summons carrying a fine of RM300.