HIGHLIGHTING THEIR PLIGHT: Ikom (left) and a villager at The Borneo Post office here.
KAPIT: Residents of 13 longhouses along the Rumah Juntan-Nanga Bena road at Sungai Sut area, near here, including two primary schools and a rural health clinic at Nanga Bena are crying foul that a logging company is using the road as an alternative route for transporting logs to their log pond at Nanga Amang.
They said that they were worried for their safety while travelling along the 18km gravel road built by the government.
The longhouses are Rumah Juntan, Rumah Mikai, Rumah Taing, Rumah Ugap, Rumah Undi, Rumah Nyawai, Rumah Achan, Rumah Seli, Rumah Mamut, Rumah Ai, Rumah Berauh, Rumah Ubu and Rumah Emak while the two primary schools are SK Nanga Bena and SK Rantau Panjai.
A spokesman from Rumah Nyawai, Ikom Ega, said the logging company started to use the road to transport logs after the recent Gawai Dayak and they were not aware of any authority that gave the company permission to use the road.
“We are particularly concerned for the safety of road users of the said road as the huge lorries take up the whole section of the road with no space for other vehicles to pass through. The other day my uncle was almost knocked down by a logging truck,” he said.
He added that the road was used by the logging company as a shortcut to their log pond.
Worried that the five small bridges along the road would not be able to withstand the weight of the heavy lorries, he also claimed the drains along the road had been damaged by the lorries.
According to Ikom, they had met the manager of the company, only to be told that the company had the right to use the road.
Concurring with Ikom were Ngindang Minggat from Rumah Achan and Sibat Luang of Rumah Ugap, who together with him called on Hulu Rajang MP Wilson Ugak Kumbong and Minister of Land Development Tan Sri Dr James Masing to resolve the matter.