TAWAU: The Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project is now 65 per cent complete, which is behind the 86 per cent completion rate in Sarawak, says Deputy Public Works Minister Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup.

He said the delay in the construction of the project compared to Sarawak was caused by the change of state government in 2018, which led to changes in policies, including the revocation of the project delivery partner (PDP).

"Sarawak, on the other hand, did not have a change of government, they continued with the policy, and development and there were no cancellations, so this is why Sarawak is at a more advanced stage in the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway compared to us (Sabah). Now we (Barisan Nasional) are back in the government.

"As the Deputy Public Works Minister, I have been committed to helping the government build the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway, even the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) has approved all 19 remaining packages of the project and we are committed to completing all (these packages) in five years," he said here yesterday.

Arthur, who is also Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) deputy president was speaking during a press conference after inaugurating the PBRS Office in the Tawau parliamentary constituency, as well as receiving 2,000 new membership applications.

In May, Senior Public Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof was reported to have said that the remaining 19 of 35 work packages in the first phase of the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway project would be implemented using federal government allocations.

Meanwhile, Arthur said the construction of a road to connect Sabah - especially the Kalabakan and Serudong areas - to Simanggaris in Kalimantan, Indonesia, would be a priority project for next year.

He said the move was important to ensure that Sabahans could reap economic benefits from Indonesia's move to relocate its capital to Kalimantan.

-- BERNAMA