Kuching’s Tun Salahuddin Bridge toll-free from Jan 1

Good news for Kuchingites! The Tun Salahuddin Bridge that crosses the Sarawak River will be toll-free from January 1, 2016.

“We expect a big crowd on Jan 1 to gather along the bridge to celebrate the day when it is going to be toll-free,” Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem told the state legislative assembly in his winding-up speech on Wednesday, The Star reports.

The abolishment of the Tun Salahuddin Bridge toll, promised earlier, is not the first by Adenan since he took office last year – toll at Sibu’s Lanang Bridge and the Asean Bridge in Miri were abolished earlier this year in a move to make Sarawak a toll-free state by 2016.

The CM also said that the Pan Borneo Highway will be toll-free in the future. “Similarly, with the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway later, we do not impose any toll because we want to reduce the burden of the cost of living (sic),” he was quoted as saying.

Amazingly, the state government will pay no compensation to Zecon Toll Concessionaire Sdn Bhd. The CM told reporters that the state government had successfully negotiated the Tun Salahuddin Bridge toll abolition with the concessionaire. “They care for the people of Sarawak and they quite agree because of their public-spiritedness,” he said.

The six-lane, dual-deck Tun Salahudin Bridge is a multi-span, pre-stressed concrete bridge that’s 339 metres long and 28 metres wide, with a 325-metre embankment. It has a 1.5-metre central median and a granolithic pedestrian lane on either side, each 1.5 metres wide.

Completed and opened by then CM Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on September 2003, the toll road was gazetted and concession commenced a month later.

Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.