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SARAWAK is drawing up a blueprint for major infrastructure and socio-economic projects at the state's entries leading to the Indonesian new capital of Nusantara in Kalimantan Borneo.
This blueprint will include gazetting the Tebedu immigration and customs checkpoint on the side of Sarawak (located about 100 kms inland from Kuching) into a Special Economic Zone to facilitate faster infrastructure upgrades and more organised cross-boundary travel arrangements.
Announcing this, Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said this proposal by Sarawak was presented for discussions with his Indonesian Government counterparts during the recent East Asean Growth Area (EAGA) ministerial meeting in Kota Kinabalu.
"Major focus will be given by Sarawak towards cross-border developments at our border with Kalimantan.
"The main entry point now is at the Tebedu to Entikong route as that will be the key route to Nusantara.
"The establishment of a Special Economic Zone status for that location is being planned," he said in a press update.
Tengah, who is also the state minister for Sarawak's international trade, represented Sarawak at the EAGA meet.
Tengah said Sarawak is liaising with Putrajaya in these Sarawak-Kalimantan border plannings.
On Sept 15, Sarawak PKR called on the federal government and state governments to start looking at constructing a superhighway spanning the 1,000 km long Sarawak-Kalimantan mountainous border in central Sarawak.
This highway is needed for the interior population along the border to be able to tap the rapid social-economic developments across the border in Kalimantan where the Nusantara is growing. - October 17, 2024
