KOTA KINABALU: A massive landslide cut off the main road link between the east and west coasts and held up traffic for about 16 hours as it dumped huge boulders and earth on a 60-metre stretch at Km 73, Kota Kinabalu-Ranau road on Thursday night.
SINGLE-LANE PASSAGE: Vehicles passing the landslip-hit stretch of the Kota Kinabalu-Ranau road after the single-lane passage was created yesterday.
Public Works Department (PWD) director Datuk John Anthony, who described the landslip near Pekan Nabalu as major, said workers cleared part of the debris to create a single-lane passage for vehicles by 12 noon yesterday.
He said the landslip occurred at about 8pm on Thursday following incessant rain in the area where a similar landslip occurred only a month ago.
He added that no one was hurt in the incident.
Anthony said most of the hills around 1.7km from Pekan Nabalu have tumbled down and the slopes there have been unstable for a while now.
“We are now clearing the road and if weather permits, a two-way traffic flow will be able to start any time soon,” he said.
He said that following the opening of the single lane, there were no reports of traffic jam.
“We will need funding to undertake a permanent rehabilitation of the slope,” he said.
A motorist, who was part of a convoy of eight vehicles on their way from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, said they were forced to turn back early yesterday following the landslip.
They decided to use an alternative route via interior Keningau to Tawau.
Meanwhile, a PWD officer at the landslip site said heavy machineries arrived about two hours after the landslip to immediately carry out the clearing works.
The pile of earth and boulders was about five metres high and 10 metres wide, he said, adding that by 8am yesterday they managed to create the passage for vehicles.