KOTA KINABALU JALAN LINTAS NEEDED FLYOVERS

THE THREE busy road junctions along the 15 KM of Jalan Lintas from Mile 5.5 Tuaran Road to the KKIA are indeed needed the construction of high level flyovers to ease the traffic congestion and jam. The three road junctions urgently needed the flyovers are at Mile 5.5 Tuaran, Jalan Kolam and the Jalan Penampang-Lido Junction.

Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Hiew King Cheu brought up the matter in Parliament recently and asked the Minister of Works on the urgency for the government to construct the flyovers, and on when these can be carried out.

The Ministry replied that the proposed flyovers shall be built under the "Upgrading Project of Jalan Lintas, KK" in the government development program. The project is with an estimated overall sum of RM300 million which is under the Highway Network Development Plan (HNDP), phase 2, and to be executed under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

The scope of work includes the upgrading of 4 lanes 2 ways to become 6 lanes 2 ways with JKR U5 Standard. There will be 4 junctions converted to high level crossing using flyovers. At the moment, the Ministry of Work is discussing with the Economy Planning Unit (EPU) and the Prime Minister Department (JPM) to allow the project to be carried out under the third rolling plan in the 10th Malaysia Plan (2013 - 2014).

KKMP Hiew said the reply from the Ministry of Works is just a reply without real commitment to solve the matter. At the meanwhile, the people will have to continue to suffer from traffic congestion and daily jam.

It is not reasonable to say that there is plan to build the flyovers at the traffic junctions of Jalan Lintas under the 10th Malaysia Plan but the Ministry is at the moment discussing with the EPU and JPM to get the project going under a third rolling plan for 2013 to 2014. That means the ministry is not ready to start the project at all, and why only talk to EPU and JPM now.

All these should have been done way before the 10th Malaysia Plan was approved, and especially now we are more than half way through with the plan. Furthermore, can the RM 300 million project be executed and completed from 2013 to 2014, because the single flyover in Tanjong Aru took them almost four years to complete.

MP Hiew wants the Ministry of Work to be more considerate towards the problems arising in Sabah, especially in the state capital, Kota Kinabalu. He also question on the amount of RM 300 million estimated to be used for the 15 KM of upgrading work. He suggested the Ministry of Works to study how other overseas countries have constructed their flyovers in a very fast and cheap way. We want our problem solved. - Sabahkini