Sarawak DAP sees the cost overrun for the Pan Borneo Highway project by RM5 billion - even before the project kicks off - as funds being reserved for the Umno/BN cronies.

"It indicates that a ‘leopard never changes its spots’. Umno remains Umno. Corruption remains corruption, and at the end of the day, it just widens the tax-based collection.

"It means more burden for the rakyat and more taxes for them to pay for the BN's cronies," Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen ( right ) said when commenting on 2015 budget presented by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last Friday.

Najib, who is also finance minister, announced when presenting Budget 2015 in Parliament that the Pan Borneo Highway project is estimated to cost RM27 billion. The cost announced in Parliament last year was RM22 billion.

"Why the RM5 billion more when the road has already been shortened by 238km?

"Such over-bloated costs are very typical of the transactions found in the annual reports of the auditor-general, where RM100 is spent for something worth RM10," Chong, who is the MP for Bandar Kuching, said yesterday.

And, the 2013 parliamentary answer

He then recalled an answer given to him in Parliament by the works minister in July 2013, which stated that the full length of the Pan Borneo Highway would be 2,239km and of this, 248km will have four or six lanes, while the remaining 1,991km will be a single carriageway.

The works minister  also said that according to the Highway Network Development Plan (HNDP) report published in 2010, the total cost of upgrading the full stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway into a dual-carriageway is estimated to be RM22 billion.

The government is to upgrade the highway in stages from 2011 till 2025.

However, in his Budget 2015 speech, Najib said “the government intends to start construction of the 1,663-km Pan-Borneo Highway comprising 936km in Sarawak and 727km in Sabah at a total construction cost of RM27 billion.'

Chong said: "If one were to compare the answer given by the works minister in Parliament in 2013 and the figure stated in the 2015 Budget speech of Najib, it is shocking to note that the stretch of Pan Borneo Highway that will be upgraded has shortened by 238km, but the cost of construction will increase by RM5 billion!

"Though it may sound good and feel good to hear the Pan Borneo Highway listed in Najib's budget speech, there are four important points missing: when will the project begin, the expenditure items; who will be awarded the project; and whether the people will have to pay toll."

In the whole of Najib's 190-para Budget speech, Chong said, the Pan Borneo Highway was given just one small paragraph, and there was no mention as to when the construction work would begin.

"If one were to read carefully what he said, for all the other projects stated in the budget speech, Najib states that these ‘will be’ implemented next year, but in the case of the Pan Borneo Highway, he used the words ‘intends to’. Why?.

"The people of Sarawak will not get value for money from the Pan Borneo Highway and at the end of the day, we will have a sub-standard highway," he added.

Related stories

'Rosmah didn't get a single sen from Permata'

On PM's mocking, Anwar cites Umno founder

Low bumi equity blamed on Najib's underlings

'Exemptions lists show we're not ready for GST'

'Budget shows KJ's power, may become DPM'

Rafizi fires back - calls Najib a bigger bully

PKR deflects Najib's attack on Pakatan's budget

A tale of a thorny Budget

Housewives have 'hidden talents' to contribute

PM's Dept spending like there is no tomorrow