(Facing camera from right) Miro, Anielia and Awang take a closer look at the stretch where the overtaking lanes will be constructed.
KUCHING: The Public Works Department (JKR) here will make an official request to the Sarawak government to fund the proposed Kuching-Bau Road upgrading project, disclosed Serembu assemblyman Miro Simuh here yesterday.
He said about RM100 million is needed to upgrade the existing single lane road from the Jalan Stephen Yong junction to the traffic lights near Bau Police Station to a double-lane road.
Miro told The Borneo Post this after a site visit to accident prone areas along the Bau-Kuching Road. He was told by a JKR divisional engineer yesterday that the official project proposal and its estimated cost would be submitted to the Sarawak government soon.
“I will also talk to the Chief Minister personally about this proposal to get it approved. This is a long-term measure to overcome the bad congestion along the stretch of road during peak hours as it is one of the busiest roads in Kuching,” he said.
He claimed that an average of 1,200 lorries travel along the stretch daily, making it not only the busiest but also very dangerous.
“In fact, there are several accident prone areas along the stretch, where almost every month there was at least one fatal accident reported there,” he said.
As a short-term measure, Miro said JKR has agreed to build a 1.5km overtaking lane along the stretch between Jalan Kranji and Jalan Tanjung Durian as well as a 700m overtaking lane along the stretch in front of Nirvana.
He said these are straight stretches along the Kuching-Bau Road, where motorists have the opportunity to overtake slow-moving big vehicles, but still is a very dangerous manoeuvre.
“I have been assured by JKR that they will be doing the overtaking lanes along this stretch through a concessionary company,” he added.
Joining him for the site visit were JKR Kuching divisional engineer Awang Mohd Fadillah and Bau district officer Anielia Siam.