ITB Berlin News 2021 - Day 2 Edition

TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE
Ongoing
roadworks flank
original road
on Pan Borneo
Highway project
– here near Sri
Aman
Royal Brunei Airlines
introduces flights to
Kuching and Sibu in
Sarawak
The new Royal
Brunei routes
A new transport backbone
– the Pan Borneo Highway
Travel by road across the vast state of Sarawak continues
to be a long journey – up to 19 hours from Sematan to Miri
currently on a tarred, but often rough two-lane road.
Royal Brunei Airlines has launched
services to Sarawak with flights to
Kuching and Sibu as part of its new “RB
Link” services.
To accelerate the socio-economic
growth of Sabah and Sarawak, a major
effort to fully develop and upgrade
the Pan Borneo Highway into a fourlane
dual carriageway was announced
by Malaysia’s Prime Minister in April
2013. But the origins of a planned trunk
road connecting the expansive states
of Sarawak and Sabah, with Brunei in
between, date back to the 1960s when
it was known as the Trans-Borneo
Highway. Construction works began
in 2015, and now almost half the works
have been accomplished throughout
the state.
When completed in the coming
years, the future toll-free Pan Borneo
Highway Sarawak from Telok Melano
to Merapok is expected to span a total
distance of 1,060 km. It will become
THE transportation backbone of the
states of Sabah and Sarawak and
will play a major role in opening-up
economic corridors and opportunities
in areas it traverses.
Pavement works – at some stretches,
new 2-lane single carriageway are
already taking shape. These will
be progressively opened to traffic,
to enable construction works to
concentrate on the next two-lane
single carriageway
“We are very pleased to be able to expand
our footprint in Sarawak with two new
destinations, Kuching and Sibu through
our brand-new innovative product, RB
Link. This allows for more trade and
tourism opportunities between the
cities, and also provides residents from
Kuching and Sibu with greater travel
choices to any of our exciting cities
within the RB global network,” said Ai
Ling, RB’s Senior Vice President of Sales.
Flights to and from Sibu began on 14
November 2019
KUCHING LAUNCHES NEW
HYDROGEN-POWERED BUS
SERVICE
The new zero
emission
hydrogen bus
in Kuching
Sarawak’s highly anticipated
zero emission hydrogen
bus service was launched in
January 2020, operating on
two routes with stops near
various attractions in the city.
The pilot project has begun
with two buses – one operating
the Downtown Heritage
Loop and the other on the
much longer Damai Loop.
The service is a joint effort of
the State Transport Ministry
and Sarawak Economic
Development Corporation
(SEDC) to promote a reliable,
affordable, safe and ecofriendly
public transportation
system in Sarawak
22 SMART GUIDE www.sarawaktourism.com