MIRI – Construction for the Trans Borneo Highway, which aims to connect Sarawak to Sabah without passing through Brunei, has started.
Sarawak Deputy Regional Development and Agriculture Modernisation Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Ismail said construction has begun in the town of Lawas in northern Sarawak near the Brunei border.
.The Sarawak Public Communications Unit, in an update, quoted Rahman as saying that the construction process will be in stages. The section connects Lawas district to Miri via Limbang.
“Construction has started on the Lawas to Merapok route,” he said.
“The Limbang to Mulu route will also start construction while the Limbang to Merarap to Lawas route will start construction in 2023,” he said at a Hari Raya Aidilfitri gathering in Lawas town yesterday.
The Sarawak government and the federal government have been considering such a highway – one that does not go through Brunei – since the 1980s. However, until now, nothing had materialised.
The need for such a highway is vital as the costs of paying travel charges through Brunei and the long queues at the immigration and customs checkpoints have caused a lot of problems for those travelling or transporting cargo.
There are eight immigration and customs checks that a driver from Miri needs to go through just to pass through Brunei to reach Lawas via Limbang.
Miri is separated from Limbang by about 200km of Brunei territory.
Limbang, meanwhile, is sandwiched between two sections of Brunei, and Lawas is separated from Limbang by the eastern Brunei section.
A road drive from Lawas town to the Sabah border takes only 30 minutes. – The Vibes, June 6, 2022
