Main cause of delay for Pan Borneo Highway Sabah
Published on: Saturday, March 23, 2024
By: Bernama
Changing the implementation method of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project in 2019 from Project Delivery Partner (PDP) to a conventional approach is the main cause for its delay, said Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya. - pix Bernama
Kota Kinabalu: Changing the implementation method of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project in 2019 from Project Delivery Partner (PDP) to a conventional approach is the main cause for its delay, said Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya.
The Sabah Works Minister said the change was made following the Sabah Government’s decision at the time to recommend to the Federal Government to terminate the PDP method and the agreement related to the method.
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He said the move was wrong because by terminating the PDP agreement, the financial model to finance the expenditure for the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway project in Sabah was also ended, thus delaying the project.
“Through the PDP agreement, the financial model was expected to be sufficient through the development allocation and from the issuance of sukuk. After the PDP agreement was terminated, financial resources for the implementation of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project were solely through the development allocation, which was very limited.
“This resulted in only 15 packages being implemented out of a total of 35. The remaining 20 packages were postponed and only re-approved last year,” he said in a statement, Friday.
The statement is in response to the issue raised by Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) at a special chamber session in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, describing the slow progress of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway compared to Sarawak.
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At the session, Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said land acquisition delays and changes in project implementation methods had led to slower progress in Sabah compared to Sarawak.
Shahelmey said the situation in Sabah was different compared to the implementation of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway where the sukuk issue was done first, thus enabling the project to have sufficient financial resources for the entire package in Sarawak.
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He said the Federal Government had approved the implementation of the remaining 20 work packages last year and, with the approval, the State Government through the Sabah Public Works Department (JKR) has prepared all the requirements for the re-implementation of all packages.
“The design and tender documents are already available and the Value Management Lab process was also completed at the end of October 2023. As of today, four Work Packages, namely WP12, 13, 14 and 16, have already been appointed contractors,” he said.
He said the physical work will start on April 1 while the remaining 16 packages are still in the procurement process and they are expected to be finalised next month, with the physical work expected to begin in May.
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