KOTA KINABALU: A proposed Trans Borneo Railway project linking Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Indonesia's Kalimantan, will bring an overall economic boom to the Borneo region.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said that the proposed project would open up connectivity among the people in the world's third largest island.
"Once materialised, the project will have an impact to enhance people-to-people connectivity and economically, it will facilitate trade, promote growth of industries at the border areas and boost tourism in the Borneo region," he said in a statement on Sunday (March 31).
Last November, Federal Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said his ministry had received a preliminary proposal on the Trans-Borneo Railway Project.
Nanta said the idea for this mega-railway linking Sarawak and Sabah and eventually connecting Kalimantan came from the Transport Ministry and that the Federal Government had approved a financial allocation.
The allocation was specifically to carry out a feasibility study on the Trans-Borneo Railway routes involving the Sarawak-Sabah side.
Brunei-based Brunergy Utama Sdn Bhd earlier this week announced it would be embarking on the Trans Borneo Railway project, which it proposed to be implemented in two phases involving routes spanning 1,620km.
The first phase would connect cities from the Borneo's West to the East coast, beginning in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, and ending in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah while the second phase would involve North and East Kalimantan connecting the main route with Samarinda and to the new Indonesian capital Nusantara in Indonesia.
