KUCHING: Works Minister Baru Bian flagged off the Jelajah FTRoadpedia which was into its second day running yesterday.
Joining the three-day road trip which began Saturday, Baru and officials from his Ministry of Works as well as officials from the Sarawak’s Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transportation (MIDT), Public Works Department of Sarawak (JKRS) and senior management staff of Project Delivery Partner for Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak, Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU). Yesterday the entourage would be visiting five out of the 11 works packages of the highway project to look for themselves the progress made so far since it started in stages from 2015.
After yesterday’s flag-off early in the morning at a leading hotel here, the entourage of 100 people, including media personnel, went straight to Serian Roundabout-Pantu Junction (Works Package 03) where they were briefed on the progress of this 75km stretch. From there they visited the base camp comprising a dedicated training centre and centralised labour quarters.
The entourage then proceeded to Batang Skrang-Awik (Works Package 05) with length of 68km. Enroute to Sarikei, the entourage was briefed on the progress made at Sungai Awik Bridge-Bintangor Junction (Works Package 06 – 64km). Approaching Sibu, the entourage visited the Batang Rajang Bridge along the Bintangor Junction-Julau Junction and Sibu Airport -Sungai Kua Bridge (Works Package 07 – 76km).
This twin bridge across the Rajang River and popularly known as the Durin Bridge is longest bridge, at 1.708km, to be constructed in the Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak project. When completed, the Durin Bridge will rise up to about 22m above the ground.
It will mirror the existing bridge with three navigation channels, one of them 150m in width and a height clearance of 20m. Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak, from Telok Melano to Miri, will have 115 pairs of bridges. In addition to visiting the sites, Baru and entourage were briefed on project monitoring of the mega highway project by leveraging on technology.
Through its Integrated Project Management System (IPMS), LBU utilities a common data environment, 3D Highway Information Modelling and dedicated systems for project management to monitor progress, for communicating across different teams in various sites, and for reporting purposes.
