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The Deputy Prime Minister said following the study, there will be a pilot project, which begins from Kampung Sembilang in Kota Samarahan to assess the social impact of the project.
“In terms of profitability, stage bus service is not profitable to the company but there is certain social impact to the community.
“We are looking at enhancing the accessibility for rural folk, one of which is coming up with stage bus and express bus services to connect not just along the Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak but also Pan Borneo Sabah,” he told a press conference here today.
The press conference was held after Ahmad Zahid chaired a meeting with several state leaders to discuss Sarawak’s rural and regional development matters at Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Petra Jaya here.
Among those present were Deputy Premiers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who is also Minister for Infrastructure and Port Development, and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who is also Second Minister for Natural Resources and Urban Development.To a question on the express bus service along the Pan Borneo Highway, Ahmad Zahid said the transportation from Sarawak to Sabah would definitely have to go through Brunei immigration.
“We will have to go through Brunei. Operational wise, we will come to the details later. MARA Liner will start the pilot project in Sarawak first,” he added.
Earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister explained that this was the second time he had similar meeting with Sarawak leaders to bring about more rural development projects to the state.
“I take the pleasure to announce that a few projects tabled during the last meeting had been 90 per cent completed. The remaining 10 per cent – we will act further on it.
“Meeting like this is important since we can figure out directly the problems faced by the state government during the project implementation,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid added that the meeting also looked at the social impact of the projects being implemented in rural areas.
He said the meeting today also decided that water supply projects which value was under RM50 million would be implemented by the State Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB).
“It is the prime minister’s directive that projects under RM50 million will be handed over to the state government for implementation.
“In this case, we have decided that water supply projects worth under RM50 million be implemented by JBALB. I think such move is vital for the better welfare of Sarawakians,” he added.