Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the toll-free Pan Borneo highway should trigger economic growth in Sarawak state which has been held back by the lack of a good road network.
Razak was speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between federal government officials, officials from the state of Sarawak and infrastructure company Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn.
The event took place in the federal administrative capital Putrajaya, around 25km from the capital city Kuala Lumpur on mainland Malaysia, the Malaysian news agency Bernama reported.
"It is my dream to see balanced development and a reduction in the development gap among peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak become a reality," he said in his latest post on his blog, <%$Linker:2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.najibrazak.com Visit najib razak website false http://www.najibrazak.com/ false false %>.
Work on the government-funded project recently started on a section of the highway on the island of Borneo, south of the Malaysian peninsula.
The whole Pan Borneo Highway, to be built at a capped cost of US$7.14 billion, involves the construction and upgrading of around 2,240km of road in the states of Sarawak and Sabah in the northern section of Borneo. Included in the project is road works through the coastal kingdom of Brunei, which is surrounded by Malaysian territory. The southern part of the island belongs to Indonesia.
Around 940km of the highway is in Sarawak and 730 in Sabah. Most of the highway will follow an existing trunk road or be upgrades of sections of the route from two lanes to four.
The current project in Sarawak involves the construction of 919km of a single carriageway from Tanjung Datu to Sematan and a dual carriageway from Sematan to Merapok.
Controversy has surrounded the appointment of Lebuhraya Borneo Utara, which is based on mainland Malaysia, to oversee the project expected to be finished in 2023.
The Sabah and Sarawak state parliaments were disappointed earlier this year when the federal government appointed Lebuhraya Borneo Utara as project manager but did so without a tender, according to some media reports. Politicians on Borneo want to see a federal commitment to hiring Borneo-based construction companies.
Razak was speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between federal government officials, officials from the state of Sarawak and infrastructure company Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn.
The event took place in the federal administrative capital Putrajaya, around 25km from the capital city Kuala Lumpur on mainland Malaysia, the Malaysian news agency Bernama reported.
"It is my dream to see balanced development and a reduction in the development gap among peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak become a reality," he said in his latest post on his blog, <%$Linker:
Work on the government-funded project recently started on a section of the highway on the island of Borneo, south of the Malaysian peninsula.
The whole Pan Borneo Highway, to be built at a capped cost of US$7.14 billion, involves the construction and upgrading of around 2,240km of road in the states of Sarawak and Sabah in the northern section of Borneo. Included in the project is road works through the coastal kingdom of Brunei, which is surrounded by Malaysian territory. The southern part of the island belongs to Indonesia.
Around 940km of the highway is in Sarawak and 730 in Sabah. Most of the highway will follow an existing trunk road or be upgrades of sections of the route from two lanes to four.
The current project in Sarawak involves the construction of 919km of a single carriageway from Tanjung Datu to Sematan and a dual carriageway from Sematan to Merapok.
Controversy has surrounded the appointment of Lebuhraya Borneo Utara, which is based on mainland Malaysia, to oversee the project expected to be finished in 2023.
The Sabah and Sarawak state parliaments were disappointed earlier this year when the federal government appointed Lebuhraya Borneo Utara as project manager but did so without a tender, according to some media reports. Politicians on Borneo want to see a federal commitment to hiring Borneo-based construction companies.
