Chong shows a printout of the news report dated back in March 2017 during the press conference. Seen from right are Kong, Sim and Soo.
KUCHING (April 20): Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen has blasted Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang over the latter’s baseless assertion that there was a Mile 8 flyover planned as part of the Pan Borneo Highway (PBH) project.
Chong, who is Stampin MP, said there was never a Mile 8 flyover according to the initial schedule of work which the state Public Works Department (JKR) holds.
The Padungan assemblyman said Lo, formerly Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman, should do his homework and dig into what he himself had said in the past before making groundless statements.
“YB Lo has been harping on the missing Mile 8 flyover, saying that in the PBH project, there was supposed to be a Mile 8 flyover but that project was terminated by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government during its 22-month rule.
“He has repeated such baseless allegation, that the project had been terminated by the PH government. I’d advise Lo to do his homework before making such baseless statement.
“There was never such a Mile 8 flyover project in the first list (schedule of work). Nothing was mentioned for Mile 8 flyover. He may have forgotten what he said in 2017. Even at that time, there was no mention of Mile 8 flyover,” he said at a news conference held at the state DAP headquarters here today.
He made these remarks in response to Lo’s recent statement on the then PH government having terminated the Mile 8 flyover project, which was supposed to be part of the PBH mega project.
At the press conference, he revealed the schedule of works as part of the evidence that the so-called Mile 8 flyover was never part of the Penrissen stretch which makes part of the PBH project.
Based on the JKR’s schedule of works, the four interchanges along the Penrissen Road here that were proposed to be upgraded to flyovers were Mile 41/2, Mile 6, Mile 7 and Mile 10.
Given this, Chong said: “There was no Mile 8 flyover. This is the official record with the JKR. So, I don’t know how Lo could come up with the initial part of the PBH project which included Mile 8 flyover.
“There was no mention of Mile 8 flyover based on his own statement made in 2017. The schedule of works from JKR did not mention Mile 8 flyover.
“Some residents did question why there was no Mile 8 flyover, but the government did not respond. As the then MPP chairman, Lo was responsible for ensuring the the Mile 8 intersection was not included as part of the PBH project.
“They are part of the state and federal governments and he was the council chairman who has all the means to ensure that the flyover could be included,” asserted the DAP lawmaker.
Chong said better traffic management should be put in place to mitigate congestion at the Mile 8 interchange area. ‘
He said Tan Kai, who succeeded Lo, could look into this issue and liaise with JKR for better traffic management in the area.
“Tan Kai, as the new chairman, could mitigate this problem rather than crying over spilt milk. Even crying is not telling the truth.
“SUPP has always been using the excuse that the 22-month PH rule has terminated many projects which would be beneficial to the people. This is to cover up more of their incompetence and lack of proper planning in the administration,” pointed out Chong.
Citing the missing Mile 8 flyover as an example, he said Lo had repeated such matter a couple of times and this was the first time he had responded.
“There was no evidence that Mile 8 flyover was proposed. I hope that SUPP, as part of the government, and Lo, as the elected representative, would do your homework before you make baseless allegation,” Chong added.
In the news reported dated March 24, 2017, Lo said four flyovers costing about RM200 million would be built in the MPP area, adding that the four flyovers were at Mile 4, Mile 6, Mile 7 and Mile 9 (Mile 10) of the Kuching-Serian Road, as part of the RM16 billion-PBH project.
With him at the conference were his special assistants Michael Kong and Sim Kiat Leng as well as assistant Soo Tien Ren.
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