Kota Kinabalu: Gerakan Kuasa Rakyat Malaysia (G57) called for an end to attempts to associate a recent fatal road accident in Papar with the official birthday celebration of the Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah (TYT).
Chairman Datuk Zulkarnain Mahdar said claims circulating online that linked the accident along the Pan Borneo Highway to the TYT’s birthday celebration were baseless and misleading.
He said the TYT’s birthday is an official state event and a long-standing tradition symbolising unity and respect for Sabah’s state institution, adding that it is neither political nor related to infrastructure development or road projects.
“Linking an official state celebration to a road accident is unfounded and reflects a shallow understanding of the actual issues,” he said.
Zulkarnain noted that delays in the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project have been attributed to several factors, previously explained at the federal and parliamentary levels.
Among them, he said, was the policy shift following the cancellation of the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) model in 2018 during the tenure of then Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, which affected the project’s implementation structure and progress.
He added that contractor performance issues had also contributed to delays, noting that the Federal Government had imposed penalties amounting to RM31.8 million on two contractors for failing to meet project deadlines.
Other challenges included land acquisition issues, utility relocation and technical constraints at construction sites, he said.
“These factors show that delays in the Pan Borneo project are complex implementation issues and should not be oversimplified through baseless narratives,” he added.
