Smooth Drive To Belait: An Artist's Rendition Of The Telisailumut Dual Carriageway.

Dual Carriageway In 3 Yrs

Kuala Belait - Work will soon begin on the construction of a major dual-carriage highway that is anticipated to "greatly ease" traffic flows between the capital and the Belait District, the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) announced yesterday.

In a statement, BEDB announced that His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has consented to the construction of the 18.6km highway, which includes introducing five bridges from Telisai to Lumut

"This highway will greatly benefit the people of Brunei Darussalam, especially commuters between Bandar Seri Begawan and the Belait District besides boosting Brunei's economic competitiveness by making it much easier to travel to the Sungai Liang Industrial Park (Spark) and the BSP's (Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd) operations in Seria," Dr Manaf Metussin, BEDB's Acting CEO, said in the statement.

A consortium comprising Bruneian firm Suriati Construction and a Chinese state-owned construction company Xing-An-Ji Engineering have been appointed by the statutory board to carry out the project, which is expected to take three years to complete. The scope of work includes site clearance of about seven million cubic metres, construction of permanent surface and sub-surface drainage systems, traffic signs, road markings, guard-rails, landscaping, and traffic lights.

No dates have been released on the project's timeline, but BEDB saidwork is expected to "commence shortly".

The Brunei-China consortium was awarded the contract after an international open tender by BEDB. Of the 23 companies that expressed interest, nine local and international contractors submitted tenders. The decision to award to the consortium followed an evaluation by BEDB, supported by the Roads Department of the Ministry of Development and was based on the competitiveness of the tender submitted and capabilities of the consortium.

The Chinese construction company has taken major infrastructure projects in China, Thailand, Columbia, Macau and Singapore, while Suriati Construction Sdn Bhd has been involved in various projects, including widening of the road from the Jalan Jerudong junction to Jalan Gadong and infrastructure works for Kg Meragang Housing Scheme.

The single lane, dual-carriage way from Telisai to Lumut is known for traffic congestion at the Muara-Kuala Belait highway.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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Shoulder Lane safety
written by Shoulder Lane safety , November 07, 2009

All major Brunei highways have a lack of shoulder 'emergency' lane width, adequate width should be taken into account for future highways in order to safeguard roadusers when eg. changing their flat tyres or for general breakdowns, if you look at the highways of Brunei if one were to make use of the emergency lane to change their tyres especially on the right side is in danger of oncoming cars as the lanes only accomadate to a car's width but not accounted for extra space needed to safeguard anyone who eg. change their flat tyre on the right hand side of their vehicle.

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