Pan Borneo Highway project likely to continue, says Shafie

The Sabah chief minister says he is confident the ongoing project will continue although the prime minister has called for a review.

Shafie Apdal joins RTM staff in preparing bubur lambuk in Kota Kinabalu today.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal says the Pan Borneo Highway, Borneo’s single largest infrastructure project, is likely to be continued despite federal financial constraints.

“The project is already being implemented and I am confident it will be continued,” he told reporters after launching RTM’s Jelajah Ramadan here today.

He was commenting on news reports quoting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying mega projects like Bandar Malaysia, the Tun Razak Exchange and the Pan Borneo Highway, among others, were being reviewed to save the nation billions of ringgit.

The 2,325km highway, which will provide a four-lane dual carriageway link between Sabah and Sarawak through Brunei, is scheduled to be completed in 2023.

It is funded by the federal government at an estimated cost of RM29 billion.

Shafie said there were funding constraints at the moment “until even the salaries of ministers at the federal level have been slashed”.

He said the financial constraints also affected the Sabah government.

“Many do not know this. I will detail the debts including how much is owed by the state government and Sabah Foundation that needs to be settled,” he added.

Shafie also said the state government would review the approaches adopted by the Sabah Foundation.

“We need to restructure its approaches which are not entirely geared towards the people’s benefit.

“This (the foundation) is a social responsibility which is an entity initially set up to benefit the people at large,” he said. - FMT