KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): The new completion date for the Sabah portion of the Pan Borneo Highway will be announced after the tabling of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), which is scheduled for early next year, said Deputy Works Minister Datuk Eddin Syazlee Shith (pictured).

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat here today, he said the project, which was initially slated for completion next year, has experienced delays due to changes in policies, the termination of the Project Delivery Partner Agreement (PDPA) and retendering of several work packages.

“There are 20 more [packages] which will be tendered under the 12MP. The project implementation is subject to the allocation provided by the federal agency and only then can we estimate when the project can be fully completed,” he said during the question and answer session.

He was responding to a question by Kimanis member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Mohamad Alamin, who wanted to know if the Ministry of Works has set a new target for the completion of the Sabah portion of the multi-billion ringgit project.

According to Eddin, the progress of Phase 1 of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway stood at 32% as of June with the implementation of 11 packages, while four more are being tendered. This, he said, includes one package that is being retendered after the previous contract was terminated due to requirement issues.

The terminated contract, which involved the Tawau-Semporna route, is expected to be awarded to a new contractor by the end of this year.

The Sabah portion of the Pan Borneo Highway involves the construction of 1,236km of highways in three phases.

It was reported that the estimated cost for Phase 1, involving 35 packages, is RM12.86 billion, covering 706km starting from the south-western border town of Sindumin to Kota Kinabalu and on to the east coast of Sandakan-Tawau.

Phase two involves upgrading the 98km road from Tamparuli to Ranau while the third phase involves 432km in southern Sabah linking the east coast town of Tawau to interior Keningau and south-western Beaufort.

When fully completed, the whole Pan Borneo Highway will reportedly span 2,239km, including a 1,090km stretch in Sarawak. The construction of the Sarawak section, which is now 52% completed, is scheduled to be fully completed by 2022.

Early this month, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economic Affairs) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed announced that the tabling of the 12MP has been postponed from Aug 6 to early next year citing changes in the economic landscape, such as an increase in the forecast fiscal deficit.

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