Almost RM3 mln from Marris spent to upgrade roads in Senadin, says Lee

MIRI (Sept 24): Nearly RM3 million in funds from the Malaysian Road Record Information System (Marris) Sarawak has been spent to upgrade roads in the Senadin constituency this year, said its assemblyman Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin.

Lee, who is state Minister of Transport, said the upgrading work covers 39 roads in villages and housing estate areas from Kuala Baram to Tukau.

“This includes the resurfacing of 600 metres of Jalan Cahaya 2 which cost over RM120,000 that was undertaken by Miri City Council (MCC),” he said after a site inspection in Lopeng yesterday with community leaders and councillors in charge of Riam zone.

Giving the thumbs up for the resurfaced road, the minister said most of the RM3 million allocation has been spent and only a small amount remains to be utilised this year.

He requested the authorities to channel the remaining amount to upgrade a road in the nearby housing estate as requested by the residents instead of waiting for it to be carried out next year, as more roads will be included in the Marris road upgrading list for Senadin next year.

Meanwhile, Lee called on MCC to improve the drainage system and cut the overgrown grass blocking the surface run-off that often spilled over to the upgraded Jalan Cahaya 2 and a housing estate near SMK Baru and Miri Health Clinic.

During his site inspection, residents complained to him that the surface run-off from nearby hills tend to overflow to the road and sometimes into their house compound.

They said there is an urgent need to improve the perimeter drainage as the current drains are inefficient to cope with the volume of water rushing down from the nearby hills.

An affected resident said she had to fork out money to construct a temporary earth drain to prevent water from being ‘dumped’ into her house.

Lee also took note of a complaint on the need to beef up security in this housing area.

“One of the residents complained of burglaries in this housing area, and I will bring this security issue up with Miri police chief so that action can be taken.

“Perhaps, police patrols can be arranged here and efforts made to identify the culprits,” he said.

Lee said the issue of security and drainage woes here were only known to him during his inspection visit yesterday.

He also urged residents in housing areas to join the local chat group of their respective community leaders or councillors as a platform to voice their grievances and to enable action to be taken expeditiously by the authorities.