KAPIT (Sarawak): Prime Minister Najib Razak attended a briefing on the construction of the 102km Kapit-Kanowit Road on the second day today of his two-day working visit to the Sibu and Kapit divisions in Sarawak.

The briefing, at Nanga Yong, 10km from here, was by Public Works Department regional manager John Aten.

The Kapit-Kanowit road project, which started two years ago, is one of the Sarawak central region’s biggest infrastructure projects. Kapit is currently accessible only by water transport on the Rejang River.

John told reporters that the government was constructing only 82 kilometres of the 102km road because a road already existed between Majau and Poi.

He said the project was divided into nine packages, with 34km already completed and construction was proceeding on a further 36km.

The whole stretch from Kapit town to Song town was expected to be ready by July 2018, and tenders were being called for the 16km stretch from Nanga Ngemah in Kanowit to Nanga Temalat near Song. Construction of the final stretch, costing RM150 million, would take 30 months longer, which would bring Kapit to be finally connected to the rest of Sarawak. John said the first eight packages had cost the government about RM610 million.

— BERNAMA