Red tape involving land journeys between Malaysia and Brunei will be resolved soon, said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He said the Brunei government had in principle agreed to resolve bureaucratic problem along the common border with Malaysia and had set up a technical committee for this purpose.

"The technical committee is looking into facilitating land journeys without the need for passport checks," he told reporters in Miri today.

"This matter is being studied and we should be getting a final decision soon," he added.

Najib said now, Malaysians from Sabah and Sarawak and the people of Brunei have to go through eight Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complexes in order to get from Sabah to Sarawak and vice-versa.

This resulted in the passports of people who frequently commuted between Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei to be stamped as many as 16 times.

On the construction of the Batang Lupar Bridge, he said the federal government was in discussions with the Sarawak government for the five-kilometre bridge which was expected to be built in 2018 as the cost of construction would have be shared by both governments.

"It is expected to cost RM1 billion, and when completed, will be the longest bridge in South-East Asia," he said.

Eight packages

He added that once the bridge was completed, Sarawak would have two highways which would benefit the people living along the coastline and interior of the state.

Najib also said the bridge would be part of the Sarawak coastal highway which would link the people living in the coastal areas while the Pan-Borneo Highway would connect the interior areas.

The prime minister was in Miri to launch eight packages of the Pan-Borneo Highway that will cost RM12.5 billion.

The eight packages are part of the 11 packages of the alignment of the highway in Sarawak which are currenly being implemented in various divisions in the state.

The eight packages are Sematan-Sungai Moyan Bridge (95km); Pantu Interchange-Batang Skrang (89km); Batang Skrang-Sungai Awik Bridge (68km); Sungai Awik Bridge-Bintangor Interchange(64km); Sungai Kua Bridge-Sungai Arip Bridge( 64km); Sungai Arip Bridge-Bintulu Interchange (65km); Bakun Interchange-Sungai Tangap (77 km); Sungai Tangap Interchange-Pujut Link Road (80km).

These packages are part of the overall 1,089km of the Pan-Borneo Highway in Sarawak.