New alternative road to overcome traffic woes

SIBU: The construction of a new road from the Ulu Sungai Merah residential area here to the town centre is seen to be able to overcome the problem of traffic congestion on Jalan Ulu Sungai Merah.

Sibu Member of Parliament Oscar Ling Chai Yew said that Jalan Ulu Sungai Merah is presently the only exit for residents from the residential area to the town centre and other places.

“Looking at the situation here, I think we need more new roads in Sibu. This Jalan Ulu Sungai Merah is the only road for residents in the Ulu Sungai Merah area to go out to the town centre and so on.

“We need another road and the state government may be able to build a new road either connecting Ulu Sungai Merah with Permai or from Ulu Sungai Merah to the town centre,” he told reporters here today.

Ling was met by reporters after inspecting the flood situation in Jalan Ulu Sungai Merah with members of the Nang Sang Neighbourhood Committee (KRT Nang Sang) in front of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sungai Merah.

According to Ling, the traffic congestion on Jalan Ulu Sungai Merah that has been going on for the past few years requires the state government and the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) to find an immediate and more effective solution.

He also informed that the handing over of the contract to the contractor to carry out work to upgrade Jalan Ulu Sungai Merah from two lanes to four lanes would be done next month.

“As the project has been approved, the construction works should start immediately because the problem of congestion is now becoming more serious and the number of vehicles is also increasing.

“At the same time, the problem of flooding here also needs to be solved immediately and this can be done by installing PVC pipes across the road to drain water from one side of the ditch to other side,” he explained.

Besides that, Ling also wants the state government to devolve more power to local authorities (PBT) or local councils to enable them to be involved in town and road planning.

“The state government needs to devolve power to PBT in order to have more power in town planning. With the power, PBT can undertake town planning, roads and at the same time carry out PBT elections,” he stressed.

He explained that when the State Planning Authority (SPA) approved housing projects in Ulu Sungai Merah and Rantau Panjang first, they could already expect that these areas would experience traffic congestion in the future.

With so many houses being built and there being only one exit leading to the urban area, he said, all of that could have been avoided if there had been proper planning to build more roads to solve the congestion.

Among those present were chairman of KRT Nang Sang, Hu Siew Liong and his committee members.