Work in progress: An aerial view of the Pan Borneo Highway alignment near Sukau, Kinabatangan, showing ongoing upgrading works alongside existing roads.
KINABATANGAN: There is nearly a 10% delay in a major Pan Borneo Highway package in Sabah despite payments made in tandem with work completed on the ground, says Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
The Deputy Works Minister said Work Package (WP) 1A had achieved 86.53% actual physical progress, falling short of the scheduled 96.24%.
He said WP 1A comprises 15 individual work packages, of which only four have been completed while the remaining 11 packages are still behind schedule.
“We are clearly not satisfied. The project should have progressed much further by now,” he told reporters after a working visit to the Pan Borneo Highway project sites yesterday.
Ahmad said the delay was not caused by payment issues, noting that financial disbursement stood at 86.34%, closely matching the actual physical progress.
“This shows funding is not the problem. What needs to improve is execution and speed on site,” he said, adding that contractors involved in the delayed sections have been issued warnings.
“No contracts have been terminated so far. We have started to see improvements and would continue to monitor the progress,” he said.
During the visit, Ahmad also inspected Pan Borneo Sabah Phase 1B, focusing on WP25 and WP26, both located within the Kinabatangan parliamentary constituency.
WP25 involves upgrading the road from Kampung Perpaduan Datuk Moh to Sukau, covering 14.97km while WP26 spans 18km from Sukau to Kampung Lot M.
Apart from permanent construction works, he said the ministry had carried out emergency repairs on existing two-lane roads that were badly damaged due to long-term heavy use and construction traffic.
Based on site briefings, maintenance progress on the existing alignment has reached 95% for WP25 and around 60% for WP26.
“These repairs are temporary but critical to ensure road safety and user comfort while permanent works continue,” he said.
The emergency works were funded through provisional sum allocations, amounting to RM8mil for WP25 and RM10mil for WP26.
Ahmad said delays across the project were largely due to land acquisition, utility diversions, compensation issues and price variations with some packages involving hundreds of landowners and structures.
He noted that the land acquisition process has been shortened from a maximum of two years to about one year, following the appointment of private valuers and surveyors to address manpower shortages.
He said the ministry is now enforcing a stronger sense of urgency across all implementing agencies and contractors.
“Monitoring must be continuous, not limited to monthly meetings and action must be taken immediately when delays are detected,” he said.
