Four flyovers in Sepanggar soon

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KOTA KINABALU: Four flyovers will be built in Sepanggar to help ease the traffic congestion in the area, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

The flyovers would be in Indah Permai, UMS junction, Kampung Rampayan intersection and Kingfisher intersection, he told reporters after officiating at Umno Sepanggar’s annual delegates meeting.

He said the construction of the flyovers was part of the road expansion project from Indah Permai to the Sabah Foundation building costing RM420 million.

“The tender has been awarded and the project should commence anytime now as it does not require much land acquisition as to widen the road, the same lanes will be used,” he said, adding that work on the road expansion and flyover were expected to be done concurrently.

This is a federal allocation to Sepanggar parliamentary constituency, he said.

Abdul Rahman said that when he was appointed Minister in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, last year he asked his officers to look into the traffic congestion problems from Indah Permai all the way to the Sabah Foundation building area.

“The traffic congestion there makes people late for work and this had resulted in low work productivity. The study by the officers showed that the congestion along that route is really bad as it is also used by commuters from Tuaran.

“So with the results of the assessment, I requested an allocation for the remedial measure and I am grateful to the Prime Minister for approving it. Once the project is completed, we can be assured of a better traffic flow in the area,” he said.

Abdul Rahman also said that there were plans to design the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the State capital in a way to allow it to transform into a Light Rail Transit (LRT) model in future.

If possible, he said it would be the first in Malaysia and studies on how this could be done would start soon.

He added that he would try to get the project implemented by 2018.

He said that the BRT was announced by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman but was not a priority.

“When I became minister in charge of EPU, I made this a priority and there have been many discussions between Ministry of Finance, the state government and me (in this matter),” he said.

He explained that there were efforts to build an LRT in Sabah but the ridership in the city had not reached the necessity for such a system.

“So I decided to go ahead with the BRT with the condition that it is an elevated system that can be transformed into LRT track in future. SPAD told me it could be done, technically. So we do the BRT first while waiting for the population to get to a number that can justify the need for an LRT,” he said.

According to Abdul Rahman, RM2 billion had been allocated for the project which would be done in two phases.

He said phase one would be from Inanam to the city and onwards to the airport as this is a critical route, and added that once completed the BRT would be of tremendous help to the people in Sepanggar as it would be an overhead dedicated lane for the public transport.

“There is a BRT in Sunway and there are plans to expand it to Kuala Lumpur and to Klang. It is a very simple structure and for Sepanggar it will be elevated. Hopefully we can also use electric buses so that it will be better for the environment,” he said.

Abdul Rahman also said that the government was now looking at the funding for the project although discussions were now at a high level.

“There is a queue in terms of funding and there are other projects like Pan Borneo, ERL and MRT but as the BRT project is about RM2 billion, I don’t think it will take a long time,” he said, adding that what was important now was to make sure that there would be a study on the technical aspect to ensure that the system could be turned into LRT in the future.