Little improvement in railway safety- SAPP

KOTA KINABALU: The secretary general of SAPP Datuk Richard Yong said the initiative taken by Robert Mojolou to file an application for leave for judicial review at the High Court on Friday with regard to the government's intention to close all illegal crossings will trigger some hard thinking.

"The government seems to take that by simply closing all illegal crossings the solution is found.

"The government handles the illegal crossings like the way they handle the never ending illegal immigrant problems," he asserted.

"The formation of a special committee by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development is all but an after thought. We hope it will not end up like just another committee," he said.

'SAPP has repeatedly commented and warned of the haphazard planning for the Sabah railway at its initial stage of upgrading.

"Since the government was going to upgrade the railway, why not make it better?"

According to Yong, the railway line stretching 134km from Tanjung Aru to Tenom did not appear to have a thorough plan.

"It was but a repetition of a 40- year-old rail service with little improvement. The government spent RM334 million and what the people got in return was a locomotive much to the amusement of foreigners and tourists alike.

"When the other parts of Malaysia are using Monorail and Light Rail Transit (LRT), Sabah not only regressed but also took a huge step backward," he said.

Yong said the government did not put into place safety measures to prevent accidents.

“It did not seem to have considered 'the density of the population in Putatan in particular and it did not take into consideration the traffic condition, the risks to pedestrians, the motorists and the students of nearby schools."

Yong also claimed that the government failed to see the need of accessibility to the villages, schools, residences and the commercial and industrial zones.

"It has created traffic havoc making the people travel at a snail’s pace, day in and day out, wasting unnecessary long hours going to work and returning to their homes in Putatan, Papar and Beaufort.

"The plea of the people highlighted by the media time and time again had fallen on deaf ears.

"Whenever an accident occurred, the usual finger-pointing is all that we can see," he said.

The Borneo Post

Sunday, November 6, 2011

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