KUCHING (April 9): Phase 1 of the Sarawak Pan Borneo Highway (LPB) project will be fully opened in the second quarter of this year (2Q2024), said Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

He said that so far, work progress had reached 99%.

“Phase 1 of the Sarawak LPB is expected to be fully opened in 2Q2024, except for the Lambir section (under work package 11) in Miri, which needs to be redesigned, and it is expected to be ready in 2026,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Phase 1 of the Sarawak LPB involves a total distance of 706km from Telok Melano to Miri.

Meanwhile, Nanta said a meeting was held between his ministry and the Sarawak Public Works Department on Monday, which discussed issues related to the maintenance of state and federal roads in Sarawak, especially involving the 'red-line' alignment.

He said the 'red line' refers to the existing original routes built before the construction of the LPB.

“In Sarawak, the 'red-line' alignment involves the areas of Kuching, Serian, Sibu, Bintulu, Julau and Miri. The standard of these 'red-line' routes, built previously, differs from the LPB, and the quality of these red-line routes needs to be upgraded.

“Phase 1 of the Sarawak LPB involves a distance of 786km, but there are road alignments of 136.7km that were not included in the LPB's construction, and are now in poor condition. Several solution models were proposed in the meeting, and all these proposals will be studied in detail,” he said.

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