Serian folk urge contractors to finish town’s two flyovers by April

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A view of the new flyovers in Serian. Only one is partially open to motorists as construction continues. 

KUCHING: The people of Serian are hoping for the town’s two flyovers to be completed by April this year to ease traffic congestion and bottlenecks on the roads passing through the town.

At the moment, only Serian Interchange 1 flyover at the main Serian roundabout is partially open, while the one at Serian Interchange 2 near St Theresa Church and Taman Danu Serian is still under construction.

Bukit Semuja assemblyman John Ilus said many people in Serian want to see both flyovers open to motorists as soon as possible in order to ease the flow of traffic in the town.

He explained these flyovers have been under construction since 2016 as additional components by the contractors for the Pan Borneo Highway stretch which passes through Serian town.

“The contractors have targeted both flyovers to be ready very soon, but we in Serian hope this can done by April. If only one flyover is open but the other one is closed, it would affect traffic flow and this could cause unwanted incidents.

“The construction of the other flyover near St Theresa needs to be sped up. The traffic flow is smooth and fast from the first flyover but motorists have to slow down due to the bottleneck at St Theresa and this leads to traffic congestion,” he said.

John told reporters this when asked on the progress of the Serian flyovers after he officiated at the Grand Preview and Inaugural Gala Dinner of Digital Asset Organisation (DAO) last night.

He also said he had officiated the soft opening of Serian Interchange 1 flyover last week (Jan 22) and was told by the contractors that only one lane on both sides were open to motorists for the time being.

“I was informed by the contractors that there is still minor work to be carried out but all lanes will be open by April,” he said.

He also mentioned that many vehicles traveled along the Pan Borneo Highway stretch passing through Serian and this can cause congestion, especially during festive periods when road users drive back to their respective hometowns.

On another matter, John said he hoped commercial agriculture can be further promoted in his constituency so that constituents can take advantage of the better road linkages under Pan Borneo Highway and sell their produce to a wider market.

He said courses and seminars will be held to encourage the mainly smallholding farmers to embrace modern farming and plant more commercial crops such as pineapples which are in demand in domestic and foreign markets.

He also informed that over 30 projects under the RM5 million Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) will be implemented in Bukit Semuja this year including projects to build or upgrade facilities in schools.