Pan-Borneo Highway

The Pan-Borneo Highway was first proposed in 1966, about three years after the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. The Pan-Borneo Highway is a network of roads which will eventually connect Sabah, Sarawak, Kalimantan and Brunei. In Sabah, the network will cover every town, from the south to the north, from the west to the east.

Sometime in the middle of 2010,  the traffic along the highway between Donggongon and Lokawi began to show significant increase. But it was not until 2014 that serious work began on the construction of the highway. Some 48 years would elapsed after the Pan-Borneo Highway was first planned.

How long the whole project will take is an open question. People have to drive from Penampang to Papar to see for themselves the pace of work being undertaken.The project is proceeding fairly fast between Donggongon and Lokawi. But between Lokawi and Papar work is only starting to take off, so it appears.

What if the Pan-Borneo Highway had been constructed not long after it was first proposed? We can only imagine the tremendous development that it could have spurred  along this highway starting from around the 1970s. No one could have said that the highway would be a construction to nowhere.

Now that the construction has started, we pray that the works will proceed as scheduled. Sabah and the rest of Borneo need good road connectivity. The Pan-Borneo Highway will speed up the economic progress of every region on the Island. A well developed and economically vibrant Borneo will be good for Malaysia and Indonesia as well as Brunei.

It is to be noted, however, that the completed part of the highway was, in fact, the long overdue upgrading of the old Penampang - Papar Road (as per para 3 above).