JALAN KALABAKAN

Tawau trip the alternate way
January 3rd, 2011

I have always wanted to travel to Tawau via the alternate way which is through the Keningau-Kalabakan road. Last month I had the opportunity when our department had their quarterly meeting hosted by the Tawau Branch.

The road to Sapulut is nicely sealed but for about 150 kilometers to Kalabakan it’s fine gravel. Anyways the sights along the way is interesting especially from Keningau till Kalabakan. The sights varies from oil palm plantation to rainforest then oil palm again.

If one should try this way, the best is to have one of those 4-wheel drive vehicles due to the road condition. Should one want to risk his sedan or compact car, be sure to have good car insurance quotes. The duration of the journey is shorter, about 3 hours shorter than the normal route which is about 10 hours. But then again it depends on how fast one drives.

SIMPLICTY@gombui.net
http://kangkudo.gombui.net

200 meters from junction of Kem Askar. Land slide. Reconstruction of Kalabakan road.

KALABAKAN-TAWAU-SEPULUT Round-about

At 150 meters diameter, this is one of the largest round about in Sabah.

This roundabout is 85 Kilometers from Tawau. About 1 hour drive on good tar road.

TAWAU-KALABAKAN ROAD ROUND ABOUT

From Tawau up to this Kalabakan roundabout is good sealed road about 80 Km.
From this roundabout to gate of Maliau Basin is dusty gravel road

KOMPLEKS FELDA UMAS
Tawau-Kalabakan Highway

VIDEO
Kampong Murut, Ulu Kalabakan

"On Sunday, 2nd May 2010, DAP leaders including DAP Deputy Chairman Senator Tunku Aziz, DAP MP for Serdang, Teoh Nien Ching and DAP Sabah Assemblyman Jimmy Wong, DAP Sabah Publicity Secretary Dr. Edwin Bosie and I visited Kampong Murut, Ulu Kalabakan. It was a long bumpy ride from Tawau to Kalabakan but worse is to come in the next stretch of the Trans-Borneo Highway, from Kalabakan to Sapulut which I have termed as the Highway Rip-off of Sabah as a 179km permanent bitumunous road with sealed pavement turned out, after prolonged delays, into a gravel road! The video clip is my speech asking why Muruts feel strangers in their own land while foreigners have come to regard themselves as owners of the Land Below the Wind...."

YB Lim Kit Siang

VIDEO
Tawau - Kalabakan - Sapulut Highway
http://www.veoo.com

SAPULUT/KALABAKAN ROAD SEALING WORK
People who travel from KK and the interior area to Tawau constantly complaining the poor condition of the Sapulut/Kalabakan road. This highway is a short cut and a faster way to travel between the west and the east Sabah.

The road is still not sealed with tar and is only a gravel road since its completion in 2006.

The original contract supposedly the tar road surface was included in the contract, but some one changed the agreement and this scope of work was not carried out.

Many accidents has occurred due to the dangerous bad gravel road surface, which is covered with pot holes, dust and mud.

The original price of RM 100 million to pave the premix / tar surface has now been increased to RM 200 million as announced for the 150 kilometer of trunk road, and yet travellers have to wait until the 10th Malaysia Plan to do it.

According to explanation the road cannot be sealed at moment because of the many heavy overloaded logging trucks plying on whole length of this road. If the sealing work is done, these trucks of a private logging company will eventually damage the tar surface.

Therefore the sealing work will have to be delayed to a later date until the logging activities subsided. There are many types of transport vehicles using this road, averagely 150 times a day and 50 to 75 are heavy trucks.

Merotai - Kalabakan Road

A vital stretch of tarred road, covering a distance of 38km between Merotai and Kalabakan was completed in 2003.

Merotai is a plantation town 30km from Tawau. 30 minutes drive on good tarred road.

Merotai's economic activates are agriculture and timber products. Along the Merotai Road from Tawau to Merotai, one can see thousand hectares of oil palm estates.

Fruit stalls along Kalabakan road

SAPULUT-KALABAKAN ROAD - the uncompleted part of the project

Kalabakan to Sepulut is the remaining 151-km stretch that needed to be tarred to complete the KALABAKAN PROJECT

The KALABAKAN PROJECT is a road project, linking the eastern part of Sabah (Sandakan and Tawau), the interior (Keningau) and the west coast (Kota Kinabalu).
http://www.discovertawau.com

The RM560 million 160 km road project connecting Kalabakan, Tawau to Nabawan was awarded to Irama Sata Sdn Bhd (subsidiary of Gamuda Berhad)

ACA report lodged over RM565 million Kalabakan road project : http://www.dailyexpress.com.my

Sunday, February 6, 2011 : SEPULUT-KALABAKAN HIGHWAY OR NO WAY?

KAWASAN LARANGAN

DI LARANG MEMANCING DAN
MEMBURU DI KAWASAN
SABAH SOFTWOODS BERHAD

SUNGAI UMAS UMAS
S.S.B. POINT OF ENTRY

N: 4˚ 31' 14.3"
E: 117˚ 41' 50.6"

More about Jalan Jalan Road in Tawau 10-12-2009 September 20, 2011 01:20:30 PM