BY JACINTA JOLENE & MARGARET RINGGIT
MIRI: The state government will improve and deepen the mouth of the Baram River at a cost of RM238 million.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, in disclosing this yesterday, said the amount had been approved and that the government had approved the deepening of the Baram River.
“Because the river draft is about three metres, the boats we are using now cannot go to Baram. There is a sudden drop of about five metres at the river mouth to six metres beyond the river mouth.
“We have seen what happened to other rivers in the world including at Shanghai and Rotterdam,” he told the local media.
“The space is there in Baram for us to have our harbour and warehouses including bunkering. The project will transform Miri into another hub like Bintulu,” he said.
“Just now, I saw one boat bringing cargo from Bintulu. For cargoes from Port Klang to go directly to Miri, then we need good port facilities,” he said.
On another development, Abang Johari said that the state government would start planning the preliminary design for the road from Marudi to Long Terawan.
“The whole Baram area and this road will be connected to the roads in Limbang and Lawas, meaning Gunnng Buda and Mulu will be connected and the road will be connected to our northern coastal highway and straight to Brunei.
“Once completed, it will be called the eco-tourism corridor and this will benefit the local economy in seven or eight years’ time.
“We must start somewhere so that eventually, the whole of Sarawak will be covered by the Post-COVID Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030,” he said.
