Sabah mulls other funding initiatives for Pan Borneo Highway
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Bung Moktar Radin said the Sabah Public Works Department (PWD) is projecting the entire 35 packages under Phase 1 of the Pan Borneo Highway to be completed in 2040 if the government does not consider other funding initiatives for allocations.
Bung Moktar, who is also the state Works Minister, said based on Budget 2021 announcement by the Finance Ministry and current trend, it was found that only one package from the remaining 20 packages under phase 1 was approved for 2021...
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Bung Moktar Radin said the Sabah Public Works Department (PWD) is projecting the entire 35 packages under Phase 1 of the Pan Borneo Highway to be completed in 2040 if the government does not consider other funding initiatives for allocations.
Bung Moktar, who is also the state Works Minister, said based on Budget 2021 announcement by the Finance Ministry and current trend, it was found that only one package from the remaining 20 packages under phase 1 was approved for 2021
“Through the projection, Sabah PWD estimated that only five to six packages would be implemented under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) and only 21 of the 35 packages would be completed up to 2028.
“Now, the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway depends solely on Development Expenditure (DE) and the project is constructed by Sabah PWD.
“The provision of funds is different from the highway's Phase 1, which was implemented via the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) in which the project cost and duration are fixed.
"Nonetheless, the PDP concept was terminated on Sept 21, 2019,” Bung Moktar told the State Legislative Assembly today.
He was replying to a question by Salleh Said Keruak (BN-Usukan) who inquired about the latest status of the Pan Borneo Highway project, especially in Kota Belud area.
Bung Moktar said if the construction of the highway is dependent on allocation through DE, then its construction would take a very long time.
In this regard, he proposed that the federal government allows the Sabah government to implement the highway project on a Private Financial Initiative (PFI).
“I am confident the Pan Borneo Highway project could be expedited if we adopt PFI and I will hold discussion with several local companies early next year on the matter,” he said.
The Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project is to be implemented in stages, through three phases, and the first phase encompasses constructing the 706km highway in 35 packages at a cost of RM15.272 billion.
- Bernama
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