BY NAZMI SUHAIMI & NACITA NASSER

KUCHING: A new 6.2-km access road to the south of Kuching International Airport (KIA) will be a boon to the local residents.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian heaved a sigh of relief that the project is finally underway as it had been in the pipeline for some time.

“It is always difficult and takes time to fight for project funding.  But you must have a plan yourself in the first place and the ability to think out of the box to achieve it,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday (Nov 14).

Dr Sim said the road was mooted in 2017 and was approved by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government.

“We started fighting for this new road project in 2017 but due to change of federal government, we ended up just looking at it for 22 months (under the Pakatan Harapan federal government),” he said.

He said this was despite the local MP and assemblyman for the constituency was part of the ruling coalition in Putrajaya.

Dr Sim thanked Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof for making the project a reality after being reappointed to the position.

He also thanked former Transport Minister Tan Sri Low Tiong Lai for the approval for the tunnel project leading to the airport.

“This is a unique new road project that will not only to benefit the local traffic congestion such as in Stutong resettlement scheme, Samarahan and Serian but also is a tunnel through the airport flight path,” he said.

On Saturday (Nov 13), Fadillah officiated at the groundbreaking of the RM112.9-million project which was approved under the 11th Malaysia Plan Third Rolling Plan.

The project is entrusted to the Public Works Department (JKR) under the Ministry of Works as the implementing agency and project manager.

The supervision of the project was handed over to JKR Sarawak which was also appointed as the superintending officer. It is expected to be completed within 36 months with project completion scheduled on Aug 1, 2024.

KAPITAN TAN YIT SHENG

(Kapitan for Tabuan Dusun and Tabuan Laru areas)

 As you can see, the road to Kota Samarahan is very congested already. This is an alternative way to ease the heavy traffic in this area. I think this is a timely project.   Local Government and Housing Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian have pushed very hard for the project since 2017. We can see that our government is really taking care of the people. The new road will ease the traffic jams and  help to open up the surrounding areas for development.

ONGOM GUDY

(Community leader)

 Most of the roads often have heavy traffic congestion, so hopefully, this project will help ease the problem.

RASHIDI AMAN

(Chief  of  the Association of Malay Community Leaders

 from Tabuan Jaya

Once this road is completed, it will be easy to travel from Kuching to Kota Samarahan. The Samarahan expressway is very busy so this new road will be a great alternative. The travelling time will also be shorter.

WONG KA SHUANG

(Kapitan for Stampin 101 area)

 This project will be very much helpful for residents around here, I think it will be wonderful.