SIBU: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth chief Kevin Lau has taken Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen to task over his views on the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government’s decision to halt and subsequently cancel three major bridge projects in Sarawak.
Lau said the facts surrounding the Batang Igan, Batang Lupar and Rambungan bridge projects were well documented, stressing that all three projects were placed on hold by the PH administration on Aug 3, 2018, before being officially cancelled in 2019.
According to him, attempts to portray the cancellations differently were misleading, especially when DAP Sarawak had previously maintained that the allocations were merely redirected to finance the Sabah-Sarawak Link Road project.
“The historical record is clear. These projects were suspended and eventually cancelled under the PH federal government. This cannot simply be dismissed or reinterpreted for political convenience,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (July 14).
To support his argument, Lau cited an official statement issued by the federal Public Works Department (PWD) on Dec 10, 2021, which showed that planning for the Batang Igan Bridge began in 2016, with the tender called in 2017 and the contract awarded in April 2018 before the project was halted just months later following the change of federal government.
He said the cancellations forced the GPS government to finance the projects using Sarawak’s own resources to prevent further delays to critical infrastructure needed by rural communities.
Lau also revisited remarks made by then Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng during a visit to Kuching in 2019, when the latter warned that Sarawak could face bankruptcy within three years if it continued pursuing its own development agenda.
In this context he highlighted that the Sarawak government had demonstrated its financial capability by paying RM2.5 billion in 2017 to acquire the Bakun Hydroelectric Plant from the federal government, describing the move as a strategic investment that strengthened the state’s long-term economic position
“Today, the Batang Igan Bridge has been completed, the Batang Lupar Bridge has also been completed, while the Rambungan Bridge has exceeded 70 per cent construction progress. These achievements demonstrate that development is measured by delivery, not political narratives.”
Lau said the completion of major infrastructure projects using state resources underscored GPS’ governance philosophy that Sarawak should rely on its own financial strength while continuing to safeguard its constitutional rights and economic interests.
“The experience of these bridge projects has shown that when Sarawak takes ownership of its development agenda, it can deliver the infrastructure its people have waited decades to see,” Lau said.
