Army ready to build Belaga-Ng Merit road

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KUCHING: The army is ever ready to assist Belaga people to build a road from Belaga Ng Merit when funds are available.

Head of Logistic of the 1st Malaysian Infantry Division, Lt. Col. Dunging Serit, said as much as they wanted to help they could only come in after the funding had been approved.

“So if they want to request for our assistance, which we always welcome, first of all the elected representative must apply for government grant to implement the project.

“If the estimated cost of the project is RM1 million when built by Public Works Department, it will cost only RM300,000 when they use our service,” he said when asked to comment on Belaga assemblyman Liwan Lagang’s proposal that the army could take the lead in constructing the much-needed road from Belaga town to Ng Merit.

Liwan, who is Assistant Minister of Culture and Heritage, said the road with a distance of approximately 150km could easily be built by the army under its ‘Jiwa Murni’ programme. However, there had been no sign of it being implemented yet even though the issue had been highlighted to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who in priciple, had agreed with the implementation of the road.

“I suggest that the elected representative concerned do a follow-up on the matter. I believe RM300,000 is quite easy to get,” Dunging said.

He said that projects commissioned by the army would be cheaper as the government need not pay for manpower and machinery for all those would be provided by the army as they had been paid for by the government.

He added that several infrastructure projects had been done and completed by them and that really helped the government save a great deal.