No choice but to cross: Kg Nelayan Tengah villagers brave dilapidated bridge with trepidation

SANDAKAN – The dilapidated hanging bridge over Sg Batang at Mile 10 was never a convenient path for the villagers here – yet they are forced to use it daily as they have no other choice.  

The bridge, which connects Kg Nelayan Tengah and Kg Pampang to Kg Sibugal Besar, was constructed about 12 years ago as a replacement for a sturdier wooden bridge with a roof previously.

Villager Ikra Dugasah, 65, said residents here dread using the hanging bridge.

“In 2012, the government started widening the river (Sg Batang) for flood mitigation; the river is now widened for about 9.1m, and our original bridge had to be demolished, because it was no longer long enough.  

“They replaced it with this hanging bridge. We all hated it, because a lot of us are afraid of heights, and this bridge does not look stable at all. 

“They nailed wooden planks on the walkway of the bridge, which would break and get unplugged from time to time,” she told The Vibes today.

One of the two wires that supports the weight of the bridge had even snapped three years ago, and the villagers had no choice but to keep using the bridge.”  

About 100 villagers from Kg Nelayan Tengah and Kg Pampang use the bridge daily to get to Kg Sibugal Besar, where most of the facilities are located, including SK Sibugal Besar, a pre-school, and a mosque.

The hanging bridge had gone viral earlier this week after pictures taken by Bernama of primary school pupils risking their lives walking on missing wooden planks made its rounds on social media and in news reports.  

Ikra said that she had stopped using the bridge five years ago, despite the fact that it is very near to her house.  

“I have had neighbours (from across the bridge) coming to my house, asking me to attend a wedding over there. 

“But I told them, I am sorry, I am old and I do not dare to cross the bridge.  

“One of the suspension wires had clearly snapped, and the bridge wiggled as we walked on it.

“As someone who is old, and is afraid of heights, I really cannot push myself to cross the bridge. 

“I even abandoned my vegetable farm over there because of this,” the pensioner said, adding that the previous wooden bridge had been used for over 20 years.  

Ikra said that the villagers would not use the bridge if they had other options. 

Without the bridge, they would need to walk to the main road and enter Kg Sibugal Besar’s junction, which is about 4km – over an hour’s walking distance.  

Yesterday, the Village Development and Security Committee of Kg Nelayan Tengah in a statement told the press that the Public Works Department and Sandakan Municipal Council had decided to close the bridge, effective immediately.  

However, The Vibes found that most of the villagers were not informed, as primary school students are still using the bridge as usual.  

Nur Juwita Julianna Amson, 12, who crossed the bridge to head home from school today, said that she was not aware that the bridge was ordered closed.  

“No one told us, and there was no signboard or announcement either,” she said.  

Juwita said that she has been crossing the bridge since she was in Standard One, and she was often scared for her safety.  

“My parents would ask me to be careful on the bridge because they know that some of the wooden planks are missing. 

I am also afraid to fall into the river because the river is known to have a lot of crocodiles; there are even crocodiles that are bigger than a boat,” she said.  

While Libaran Umno members nailed new wooden planks onto the walkway of the bridge last Tuesday, Juwita said that she is quite confident that the planks would come off in a few weeks.  

She also hopes that authorities will not close the bridge, as her next option would be walking to school via the main road, which would take more than an hour.  

The Vibes is trying to get confirmation from the Public Works Department on whether the bridge has been closed, and if the bridge will be repaired at the nearest time.  

Earlier this week, Bernama reported that the Sandakan Municipal Council had received an application of RM100,000 funds to repair the said bridge. – The Vibes, January 13, 2022