KUCHING: Foochow Road No. 1, which is supposed to be closed until Dec 31 for construction work, may be reopened before Christmas Day on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak said the contractor was working on concreting yesterday afternoon and “if the weather permits”, the closed section of road should be reopened to traffic ahead of time.
“They are doing the concreting today (yesterday). If the supply (of construction materials) is okay and the weather is fine, the road should be reopened soon,” the spokesperson said when contacted.
JKR Sarawak was responding to Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei’s Facebook post, which said, ‘the reopening of the road (Foochow Road No. 1) is expected to be much ahead of the schedule’.
“It is expected to be before Christmas, as opposed to the initial schedule of Dec 31, 2019, six to seven days ahead of schedule,” said the statement.
According to Wong, the contractor was arranging steel bars for concreting around 10am yesterday.
He added that the contractor would be conducting the concrete casting latest by 1pm yesterday.
Wong also appealed to Kuchingites to be extra cautious when passing by that particular section of Foochow Road No. 1 and Jalan Tun Razak.
“It is a huge task to monitor the work but I hope my effort will be rewarded by early reopening of all the sections of the road,” said Wong.
On Thursday, JKR Sarawak issued a statement announcing the closure of Foochow Road No. 1 until Dec 31.
The department explained that this was to enable the contractor to implement concrete resurfacing work at the traffic light junction of Jalan Tun Razak-Jalan Foochow-Jalan Rengas.
JKR Sarawak also advised road users to be careful when approaching the mentioned roads, while expressing regrets for any inconvenience caused.