MIRI – Sarawak is repairing badly damaged rural roads to facilitate the Covid-19 vaccination programme that will kick-start in the state on Saturday.
Repair works are in full swing, carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD) in remote areas in the northern and central parts of the state.
In Telang Usan, located 200km inland from here, the roads linking the Baram settlements are being fixed.
“The rainy weather has stopped, and PWD teams are going in to carry out urgent repairs,” said assemblyman Dennis Ngau.
Preparations for the inoculation drive in the constituency are being done by the Health Department, he said.
In Marudi district, repairs are ongoing on roads along Lapok-Ulu Tinjar localities.
Assemblyman Pengguang Manggil said PWD teams are taking advantage of the good weather to patch up roads hit by erosion.
“There are no more floods, so PWD has managed to send in machinery.”
In Belaga, assemblyman Liwan Lagang said teams have been deployed to areas with roads damaged by landslides.
Rural roads in Sarawak are in bad shape following nearly three months of heavy rains and floods.
Manggil said big lorries belonging to plantation companies ply these roads daily, making the surface even worse.
He was responding to complaints on social media by frustrated villagers in the Lapok-Ulu Tinjar localities in the state’s north who cannot travel to town areas due to roads becoming “mud streams”, rendering them impassable.
He has secured government grants to repair the Lapok-Ulu Tinjar routes. – The Vibes, February 23, 2021
