KUCHING – Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is serving time for corruption offences, has received a glowing tribute from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for kick-starting the upgrading of the Pan Borneo Highway spanning Sarawak and Sabah.
Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said it was Najib who had approved the huge national budget for the project (approximately RM16 billion for the Sarawak portion of the highway and RM7 billion for the Sabah section).
"I have completed my Pan Borneo Highway tour with my wife and family," he said at a state banquet in Kuching last night. "This highway is pivotal in transforming the lives of the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
"It will transform the social and economic landscape of east Malaysia. And I must thank former prime minister Najib for being the one to approve the upgrading of this highway when he was the PM."
The king expressed hope that the current administration will complete the upgrading efficiently soon.
"During my tour along the highway, sometimes it felt like driving along a Dubai highway and sometimes it felt like driving on a rollercoaster highway," he said,.
Najib, who led the country from 2003 to 2018, had approved the money for the highway upgrading and since then the subsequent prime ministers have continued the project.
The king also said that he is tremendously grateful to Sabah and Sarawak folks living along the tour route that he took for coming out in their thousands to greet him and his family everywhere they visited.
"I love all of you in Sabah and Sarawak. God willing I will come back for another tour," he said.
The highway spans about 700km in Sabah and some 1,100 km in the Sarawak section.
It also passes through Brunei along some 300km. The Malaysian government has approved a link road that will connect Sarawak to Sabah, bypassing Brunei.
This will allow motorists to avoid having to pass through eight different immigration and customs checkpoints at the east Malaysia-Brunei borders which caused lengthy time wastages due to the long queues and slow immigration and customs clearances.
The Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong will grace the Malaysia Day grand celebration in Kuching on September 16 that will be hosted by the state government. – The Vibes, September 13, 2023
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