Taking action: Alexander (front, centre) taking a close look at a hillside affected by flooding along the Johor Baru-Endau route. — Bernama
MERSING: The proposal to upgrade and beautify the Johor Baru-Endau road involving accident-prone and flood-affected areas near here, will be considered under the Fifth Rolling Plan of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), says Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.
He said the project, which includes upgrading and beautifying the road sections from Section 106 to Section 118, was expected to incur an estimated cost of more than RM100mil.
He said the Works Ministry intended to endorse the proposal after discussions with the state Public Works Department (JKR) and studying the importance of the project.
“We consider this project crucial for the safety of lives because some sections of this route are deemed black spots, where accidents frequently occur, resulting in significant loss of life.
“The accident rate is very high, so we are endorsing it for the Fifth Rolling Plan and the estimated cost is also substantial, exceeding RM100mil,” he said to reporters after inspecting the route here yesterday, Bernama reported.
According to JKR data over the three years from Jan 1, 2021, to Dec 10 last year, a total of 103 accidents were recorded on the FT003 route in this area, stretching from the Kota Tinggi border in Johor to Rompin in Pahang.
Out of these 103 accidents, 27 cases were fatal incidents.
He also said floods also tend to occur along the particular route.
Alexander said the proposal was a continuation of the efforts to raise the road level on the FT003 route (Kota Tinggi-Mersing Road), with an estimated cost of RM120mil, which was already approved under the Fourth Rolling Plan of the 12MP.
As of now, he said four locations in the Kota Tinggi area along this route had been identified as prone to flooding during heavy rainfall.
They are Section 47-Section 49 (near the Rubber Board of Malaysia), Section 55-56 (Kim Long), Section 59-61 (Yatama City) and Section 71-72 (Risda).
The FT003 route serves as a major connecting road from Kota Tinggi to Mersing and the states along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
