KUCHING: The federal government has instructed Sarawak Public Works Department to evaluate the proposal to build 95 overtaking lanes on the state’s trunk road between Kuching and Miri.
Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin said the proposal, submitted last year, had put the total cost at RM400 million.
“There is a possibility (for the proposal to be approved),” he told a press conference after officiating at the state-level Road Safety Education Programme for National Service (NS) trainees here.
“I think RM400 million is nothing (not a big amount) to (the) federal (government).”
He said the figure proposed was just a fraction to the estimated RM16 billion needed in order to upgrade the present over 900km two-way trunk road to a dual-carriageway.
“If we can get (the fund for the overtaking lanes construction) approved even in stages, a lot of lives can be saved along the trunk road,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manyin said a study would be conducted on the impact of the Shell Traffic Games in improving the driving habits of those who had participated in it.
He said Shell Malaysia had pledged last year to fund the study and once this had been obtained, a team comprising experts from the Road Safety Department and a local university would be formed to carry it out.
Manyin hoped that the study could also be extended to include the NS trainees who had undergone the road safety programme.
The programme was pioneered in Sarawak NS camps in 2007 and to date has seen the participation of 35,200 trainees.
“Until now, we have yet to find out the effects of the training they got either from the Shell Traffic Games or the road safety education programme,” he added. – Bernama