SMARTguide - Sarawak

TRANSPORT &

TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTUREOngoingroadworks flankoriginal roadon Pan BorneoHighway project– here near SriAmanRoyal Brunei Airlinesintroduces flights toKuching and Sibu inSarawakThe new RoyalBrunei routesA new transport backbone– the Pan Borneo HighwayTravel by road across the vast state of Sarawak continuesto be a long journey – up to 19 hours from Sematan to Miricurrently on a tarred, but often rough two-lane road.Royal Brunei Airlines has launchedservices to Sarawak with flights toKuching and Sibu as part of its new “RBLink” services.To accelerate the socio-economicgrowth of Sabah and Sarawak, a majoreffort to fully develop and upgradethe Pan Borneo Highway into a fourlanedual carriageway was announcedby Malaysia’s Prime Minister in April2013. But the origins of a planned trunkroad connecting the expansive statesof Sarawak and Sabah, with Brunei inbetween, date back to the 1960s whenit was known as the Trans-BorneoHighway. Construction works beganin 2015, and now almost half the workshave been accomplished throughoutthe state.When completed in the comingyears, the future toll-free Pan BorneoHighway Sarawak from Telok Melanoto Merapok is expected to span a totaldistance of 1,060 km. It will becomeTHE transportation backbone of thestates of Sabah and Sarawak andwill play a major role in opening-upeconomic corridors and opportunitiesin areas it traverses.Pavement works – at some stretches,new 2-lane single carriageway arealready taking shape. These willbe progressively opened to traffic,to enable construction works toconcentrate on the next two-lanesingle carriageway“We are very pleased to be able to expandour footprint in Sarawak with two newdestinations, Kuching and Sibu throughour brand-new innovative product, RBLink. This allows for more trade andtourism opportunities between thecities, and also provides residents fromKuching and Sibu with greater travelchoices to any of our exciting citieswithin the RB global network,” said AiLing, RB’s Senior Vice President of Sales.Flights to and from Sibu began on 14November 2019KUCHING LAUNCHES NEWHYDROGEN-POWERED BUSSERVICEThe new zeroemissionhydrogen busin KuchingSarawak’s highly anticipatedzero emission hydrogenbus service was launched inJanuary 2020, operating ontwo routes with stops nearvarious attractions in the city.The pilot project has begunwith two buses – one operatingthe Downtown HeritageLoop and the other on themuch longer Damai Loop.The service is a joint effort ofthe State Transport Ministryand Sarawak EconomicDevelopment Corporation(SEDC) to promote a reliable,affordable, safe and ecofriendlypublic transportationsystem in Sarawak22 SMART GUIDE www.sarawaktourism.com

FromPenangFromKuala LumpurKota KinabaluSABAHFromJohor BahruMiriBruneiMuluFromPonanak,IndonesiaFromSingaporeSibuBintuluSARAWAKKuchingTHAILANDADAMAND NICOBARISLANDS (INDIA)CAMBODIAVIETNAMPHILIPPINESMALAYSIABRUNEISARAWAKSINGAPOREINDONESIASABAHBANDARSERI BEGAWANMIRIMiri-SibutiReefSibutiLawasLIMBANGBRUNEINanga MedamitMarudiBeluru MuluBa KelalanBarioSematanLunduMatuSiburanBauKOTABETONGSAMARAHANPulau BruitDaroBelagaSelangauSIBUSongDamaiKabong SARIKEIKAPITKanowitSantubongTalang Satang IslandPusaKUCHINGSebuyauSERIANSRI AMANMUKAHLubuk AntuBINTULUTatauSebauhBukit MabongSg. Asapwww.sarawaktourism.comSMART GUIDE 23