LIMBANG: The Malaysian government is willing to build a bridge over the Pandaruan River to link Limbang with the Temburong district in Brunei.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government was ready to proceed with the long-awaited bridge to ease congestion at the present ferry crossing.
“We have no problem to construct the bridge at Pandaruan, but it has to be discussed with Brunei in the interest of the people in both regions,” he said during a ‘leader with the people’ dinner at the Limbang Civic Centre on Wednesday night.
Muhyiddin was on a two-day visit to Limbang and Lawas.
He said construction cost was not an issue because the bridge would only be over 20 metres long.
Currently, travellers rely on ferry services to cross the river, and long queues of vehicles are the norm during weekends, festivals and holidays.
Last weekend, the jam at the ferry crossing was several kilometres long.
The joint Malaysia-Brunei private sector ferry service costs RM8 for saloon vehicles and a maximum RM150 for long-base vehicles such as cargo trailers. Pandaruan crossing is the only missing link in the Pan-Borneo road linking Sarawak to Sabah through Brunei.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said the various proactive strategies and initiatives undertaken by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration through the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) were a part of the road map to move forward on the competitive global stage.
“This ETP roadmap is a clear, detailed and focused programme with projects generating RM1.3 trillion through 130 projects in the next 10 years,” he said.
He said the opposition’s 100-day transformation plan, which included an economy-wrecking plan of RM2 billion annual extra expenditure for teachers’ salary, is illogical and untenable for any government.
“It sounds good to any teacher and even me as Education minister, but what about the non-teachers from the 1.2 million civil servants who say they also deserve a raise?” he questioned.
He said the opposition’s promises were made for political mileage and not from a practical and achievable standpoint as seen in states under their rule like Penang and Selangor.
“Sarawakians in the coming state election should not be hoodwinked by their gimmicks, as they do not have any real roadmap, and BN government should be returned with strong support,” he said.
Earlier, Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said Sarawakians should unite behind BN to continue the momentum of transformation.
The politics of development spearheaded by Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, he said, has transformed economic backwaters and rural corners in the state, including in Limbang and Lawas.
He said the state could do without the opposition’s disruptive brand of politics, which aimed to create disunity and disharmony among Sarawakians.
Awang Tengah and Limbang MP Hasbi Habibollah also called on the deputy prime minister to help accelerate the construction of more roads, schools and other basic infrastructure in this region, as well as highlighted the need for specialists at Limbang and Lawas hospitals.
Among those present were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Alfred Jabu Numpang — who represented Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, State Secretary Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong, as well as state assemblymen Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail (Bukit Kota), Paulus Gumbang (Batu Danau) and Nelson Balang Rining (Ba Kelalan).