SIBU: Critical areas like blackspots and poor road conditions along certain stretches of the Pan Borneo Trunk Road are to be addressed within five years and more overtaking lanes will be built.

Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof who is Petra Jaya MP told The Borneo Post this.

“Some roads are in bad shape, necessitating treatment. And there are certain stretches where the volume of traffic needs to addressed apart from blackspots. Defined as critical areas, they have been identified for us to address within five years.

“In the long term, we plan for the Pan Borneo Trunk Road to be a dual carriageway (four lanes) by 2025,” said Fadillah.

The timeframe for completion of improvement projects was based on allocation, and when a contract was awarded, there was always a tenure for each project.

“Some can be completed within 12 months, 24 months and 36 months depending on the nature and size of the contract awarded,” he said.

After Saturday’s inspection, he found the five completed overtaking lanes along the stretch of road between Sidumin and KK, Sabah had eased traffic. This was one way to reduce accidents along certain stretches of the Pan Borneo Trunk Road.

Road users in a hurry might be tempted to overtake at dangerous spots if they were tailing heavy vehicles, he said.

“One solution is to have more overtaking lanes at certain stretches of trunk roads. All in, there will be over 100 overtaking lanes,” he revealed.

Among the causes of accidents are poor conditions of roads and vehicles, aggravated by human negligence.

“People must comply with traffic rules and regulations on the road to reduce the number of traffic accidents, fatalities and injuries,” he pointed out.

He revealed that the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Communication had requested an emergency RM20 million fund to treat blackspots in Betong where accidents were quite frequent.

He said the allocation was on top of the RM500 million announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for the Pan Borneo Trunk Road.

“So, by 2014, we have more or less allocated RM5 million to do immediate work there,” he said.