KUALA LUMPUR: The Works Ministry (KKR) has approved all applications from the Sabah Public Works Department (JKR) for the maintenance of street lights and traffic lights for this year, with a total allocation of RM9.7 million.
Deputy Works Minsiter, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said that the maintenance work would be carried out in phases, with the first phase involving an allocation of RM7 million approved in January, and the second phase involving an additional RM2.7 million approved in August.
“For Tawau district, RM1.05 million has been approved to address the backlog of street light maintenance... through this allocation, many street lights have been repaired, and issues of poorly lit roads in high-risk areas have been addressed,“ he said.
He was replying to a question from Lo Su Fui (GRS-Tawau) regarding the assurance of allocation to resolve the street light maintenance issues for Federal roads in Tawau, which had not received funding since 2022, resulting in very dark roads and accidents.
Ahmad said that in 2022, KKR approved RM1.7 million for street light and traffic light maintenance in Sabah, while for 2023, RM1.4 million was approved.
Meanwhile, he said the assumption that unmaintained street lights directly caused road accidents was not entirely accurate.
“According to a study by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), 80 percent of accidents are caused by negligence, 13 percent by road surface issues, and 7 percent by vehicle conditions,“ he said.
