Dr Hazland Abang Hipni
KUCHING: Cancelling the proposed Second Trunk Road project will be detrimental for the rural areas as it is to be linked to the state’s existing coastal roads, said Demak Laut assemblyman Dr Hazlan Abang Hipni.
He said in a statement that the rural folk’s need for development was being neglected by Parti Sarawak Bersatu president and his vice-president Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa in their call to have the road cancelled.
“The announcement of the Sarawak government to build the Second Trunk Road which links to coastal roads had received positive reactions among the people from rural areas. In fact, its construction will ensure the rural areas will have access to a better transportation network, thus improving the people’s socio-economy.
“If the project is stopped, it will also disrupt the transportation network in Sarawak as planned by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government which prioritises the people, especially in the rural areas,” the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu rep said.
Dr Hazlan said that rural folks did not agree with scrapping the RM6 billion project which could connect Sebuyau to Lingga and Sri Aman and Betong, and shorten the distance between Kuching and Sibu or Betong.
In his constituency, he said the construction of Jalan Tanjong Embang-Bilong and at Jalan Buntal-Bako was part of the coastal roads which connected to rural areas and they also provide access to tourism spots such as Santubong and Bako National Park.
“Most of these rural folk are fishermen, farmers and breeders and they need good transportation networks to market their produce and products to the city. Therefore the construction of the roads would open up more development opportunities and increase real-estate value, which are needed to improve the local socio-economy,” he said.
Wong, who is the state’s former second finance minister, and Rayong had urged the government to review its development plan and budget for this year as they claimed that the state’s financial standing was weak and would be exacerbated by the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among others, they proposed cancelling the Second Trunk Road to save the government RM6 billion.
Wong had said that Sarawak was now constructing the federal-funded Pan Borneo Highway and was also in the process of implementing the state-funded Coastal Highway, therefore the Second Trunk Road was redundant and served little purpose.