JKR: Traffic congestion at flyover sites over by May

File photo showing an aerial view of the Mile 6 interchange.

KUCHING (Jan 19): The traffic congestion occurring at Mile 6, Mile 7 and Mile 10 due to the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway here is expected to end by early May, said Sarawak Public Works Department (JKR) Pan Borneo Highway Unit.

In a statement, it said the contactors of the project along the Kuching-Serian Road (KSR) section have given the assurance that the project’s completion will be within the next few months.

“With the Extension of Time (EOT) granted as a result of the enforcement of the last Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0, the construction works of four flyovers (Mile 6, Mile 7 and Mile 10), which is one of the section alignments under the Work Package Contract 02 (WPC02), are now being actively implemented.

“Meanwhile, the Batu 4½ flyover has been fully completed and opened to the public on March 10, 2021,” it said yesterday.

The unit also said that for the Mile 6 Interchange, construction of the flyover structure had been completed and the contractor was currently actively carrying out construction work on the abutment structure in Section B of the flyover as well as laying the road.

As for the flyover section, it said the progress has now reached 90 per cent.

“It is expected that the construction of the Batu 6 flyover will be completed and can be opened to the public as early as May this year,” it said.

For the Mile 7 Interchange project, it said construction work on the flyover structure had been completed and the contractor was now actively doing construction work for Section A (85 per cent) and Section B (40 per cent) as well as road structure construction works.

“The construction work on the Mile 7 flyover is expected to be completed and can be opened to the public by April 2022.

“For the construction of the Mile 10 flyover , the construction of the structure has been completed and the contractor is now actively doing buffer construction work for Section A (90 per cent) and Section B (70 per cent) as well as road structure construction works.

“It is expected that the construction work on the Mile 10 flyover will also be completed and can be opened to the public by April 2022,” it added.

It also said JKR Sarawak will continue to ensure that the contractors complete all construction work according to the schedule as stipulated in the contract despite facing various challenges.

The main challenges that contractors have to face are compliance with the MCO guidelines, labour shortage (constraints of foreign labour to re-enter after the implementation of several series of MCO), land issues, movement of utility structures (related to water supply, electricity and telecommunications) and traffic volume on the road.

It advised road users to abide by the rules such as driving according to the speed limit and follow the directional signage at the affected sites.

“All difficulties are deeply regretted and the cooperation from all parties is greatly appreciated,” it added.

from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/3fB0xFN
via IFTTT