IT was reported in 2016 that the construction of Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak may face a delay in completion due to many foreseen hurdles.
An analyst in Focus Malaysia April 16-22, 2016 issue, cited lack of resources as the reason for the setback, which included shortage of construction workers, costlier ground works and longer construction period as the site sat on a peat soil, and pricier key building materials due to undersupply.
He also expected some peninsula-based construction players such as Gamuda, IJM, WCT, and Sunway Construction who were to bid for the project (then) could be tied up with mega projects in Peninsular Malaysia, which in turn could delay the completion.
According to the article titled “No smooth ride for Sarawak construction players”, the Sarawak section of the Pan Borneo Highway, which would have a total length of 1,098km, was scheduled for completion by 2023.
Whether all the said factors caused a delay of the project or not, change of government policies since then, has definitely had an effect on the completion of the project within slated time.
Former works minister Baru Bian, in The Edge Markets report last November cited late payment of claims to contractors by the project delivery partner (PDP), Lebuhraya Borneo Utara (LBU), as a reason for delays to the Sarawak Pan Borneo highway project.
It was understood that the delayed claim payments for contractors amounted to about RM50 mil to RM70 mil.
Baru also reportedly said the relocation of utilities such as pipes as well as telecommunications and power cables by Konsortium URW had also caused the delay of the project.
Following that, in February this year, the project delivery partner agreement (PDPA) was terminated and the works ministry, in cooperation with Sarawak JKR (works department), has taken over the conventional implementation of Phase 1 of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway project.
Baru said in February that the Sarawak portion of the Pan Borneo Highway, which was initially expected to be completed next June, could be delayed by about 14 months.
According to him, based on the Sarawak Public Works Department’s (JKR) engagement with stakeholders involved, the completion date might vary from May to August 2022.
The initial completion date stated in the LBU’s (the project delivery partner) contract was June 2021.
He had also noted that the termination of the PDP resulted in reduction in total cost of the project from RM21.857 bil to RM18.992 bil.
On the latest progress after a government change in March, The Edge Markets on July 14 reported that the current works ministry announced that the Pan Borneo Highways Sarawak had recorded a 52% progress until June this year.
Meanwhile, the New Straits Times in the same month reported current Works Minister Fadillah Yusof as saying that the termination of the PDP resulted in some 500 people in Sarawak and 300 people in Sabah becoming unemployed.
“This (the termination of the PDP) would definitely result in an impact where we have lost technical experts who were trained and employed when the PDP was set-up for the Pan Borneo Highway project,” he reportedly said.
Fadillah remarked that the ministry was now focusing on ways to hasten the completion of Pan Borneo Highway without compromising the quality of the project.
“The new completion date for the Pan Borneo Highway has been extended to 2022 for the stretch in Sarawak and 2023 for Sabah due to the termination of the PDP,” he added.
Before the termination of the PDP, Fadillah said the Pan Borneo Highway stretch in Sarawak was supposed to be completed by next year. – Oct 9, 2020
