PARTI Bersatu Sabah (PBS) remains hopeful that the bridge linking mainland Sabah and Labuan will be built after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim decided to shelve the project to deal with other pertinent issues.
Its Labuan division chief Datuk Peter Mak said he understands Anwar’s reasoning that the bridge is not a priority at present as the island also faces inadequate and inefficient water and electric supply.
“We also appreciate the prime minister’s concern to urgently resolve the long overdue and problematic issues surrounding water and electricity supply and the resulting hardship to the people.
“However, as much as providing long-term solutions to the water and electricity issues is long overdue, also equally important is the construction of the Sabah-Labuan bridge,” he said in a statement today.
Labuan is a federal territory separated from Sabah by the Brunei Bay. The distance between it’s southeastern coast to the touristy Mempakul beach in Sabah is about 20km.
In June last year under the previous government, the Federal Territories Ministry announced it had received three proposals from companies following a “request for proposal” advertisement conducted jointly with the Works Ministry that ended on November 1, 2021.
The ministry, however, did not name the three companies and the cost of building the structure.
Mak today said the bridge has been on the Labuan folks’ wish list for a long time, adding that connectivity between the small island and Borneo is a basic infrastructure need.
“Basic infrastructure should not be viewed, though important, solely from the perspective of economic returns but also as part of the government’s social obligations to the people, which PBS Labuan believes will generate much positive returns and goodwill,” he said.
The bridge is part of the plans under the Labuan Development Blueprint 2030 and Local Planning 2020.
Its construction is also included in the Labuan Development Plan 2040 prepared by Labuan Corporation. – The Vibes, December 14, 2023
