The new federal government today assured Sarawakians that the state’s Pan-Borneo Highway project implemented by the previous BN administration will not be discontinued.

The RM16 billion highway project which will link the expansive regions of Sarawak and Sabah to Brunei will be continued till it is completed, state Harapan chairperson, Chong Chieng Jen (below, at left) told a press conference in Kuching.

“This is an assurance from the Harapan government,” said Chong who is also state DAP chairperson and newly-minted MP for the Stampin constituency.

Chong disclosed that some fresh auditing would be done on the ongoing project as well as the appointment of sub-contractors and other “sub” sub-contractors who were only getting a fraction of the budget although they are the ones doing the actual job.

On account of this, he said, some aspects of the massive project needed tightening up.

“But for now, I would like to tell Sarawakians that the project is on, not only this, but other projects as well,’ he said.

Chong also said auditing would also be done for other federal-funded projects in Sarawak.

He pointed out that the purpose of auditing was to ensure that every single sen spent by the federal government was justified and benefited the people.

“This is to ensure that half of the funding does not end up in the pockets of the cronies and only one half goes to the project.

To a question, he said, he will not be in the auditing team as he was not a qualified auditor.

“The auditing would be done by qualified professionals appointed by the Harapan government. The details would be worked out later. For now, we just want to assure Sarawakians that all the federal-funded projects in the state will continue,” he said.

Chong said the Harapan government would also expedite the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway project.

He said the project was going a bit slow because payments for contractors doing the actual works were delayed.

“The delay was a result of layers and layers of sub-contractors involved in the project. This makes it difficult to carry out the payment for the project,” he said.

Chong’s lieutenant Dr Kelvin Yii (above, at right) who is also the newly-minted MP for Bandar Kuching was present at the press conference.

The Pan-Borneo Highway project spans a total length of 1,060 kilometres. To date 193 kilometres has already been completed or is on-going. Phase one of the project entails 791 kilometres and is expected to be completed in 2021.

Phase two involving 77 kilometres is in the planning stage.