WHY SG. PEGALAN BRIDGE DELAY?

SITE….Hiew, Benjamin and Philip at the site of the new bridge.

By: DAP MEDIA

THE existing single lane bridge over the Sungai Pegalan next to the Tenom town is in need of early replacement by the new bridge to take over its role to connect up from the Tenom town to the other side of the river leading to the Sabah Agriculture Park and many kampongs.

The Sabah DAP Member of Parliament for Kota Kinabalu Hiew King Cheu, the Sabah DAP Tenom and Keningau Liaison Chief, Dr. Benjamin Yapp and his assistant Philip Voon were led to inspect the Sg. Pegalan Bridge during their visit to Tenom last Saturday.

The issue of the single lane bridge was brought up by the party’s vice chairman Edward Ewol Mujie two years ago on the narrow single lane problem faced by road users. The government was since then working on this problem and trying to build a second bridge alongside to replace the existing one.

EXPOSED…..The piers of the existing single-lane bridge exposed to rapid river flow.

The work had been slow going and judging on the work progress on site, this new bridge will need longer time to build until completion. Many passer-by stopped their cars to ask the KK MP Hiew to get the JKR to speed up the work and to ensure an early completion date is achieved.

The sight of the existing bridge supporting piers in the river looks not in a good condition and the fast flowing river water has created some erosion. There are worries on how long this will be able to support the weight of the existing bridge according to the people there. They worried about not being able to cross the river if bad luck hits.

The work on the sections of the new steel bridge girders is in progress and still needed to be assembled for connecting up to span over the river. It might take at least many more months before the bridge can be built across the wide river. There are other works to be carried out on the bridge deck, approach ramp and connecting roads.

ASSEMBLED…..The steel girders being assembled.

Dr. Benjamin Yapp requests the contractor to speech up his work by deploying more workers and machineries, besides working longer hours in order to get the bridge built before the existing one having problems. This link must not be cut off because of the reason that this is the nearest link and only one having good road surface.

Many people in Tenom had approached him to speak out on the bridge and it is high time that the government should pay more attention on this issue, especially the BN YBs who used to pass through here regularly.

We want to see the bridge to be built without further delay, and this must be a better bridge that can last for a long time, said KK MP Hiew.