The project was approved in the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The road construction has begun, but stopped after a while. This has dragged on for a few years. 

A fresh tender has been recently called, but the delay has already become a pain in the neck for the villagers, who are keeping their fingers crossed on its completion for a better living.

Tiong, who is also a Justice of Peace, brought this issue up for discussion in the parliament, raising the key concern on when it would be completed.

He said the people needed the road urgently, and he asked for the reasons on its delay and he attempted to understand the problems involved.

He said when the road was first proposed, it was estimated to cost RM4 million. "Now, it is over RM5.5 million."

Because of the importance of having such a road in the village, Tiong asked for an increased allocation of up to RM6.5 million so that the project could be extended to include the building of two bridges and the extension of the road by two kilometres.

He said he did not understand why the initial plan had to be amended, and now, the new road would only be a stretch of about 1.5 kilometres.

"The situation now is, the remaining fund can only build the road or a bridge. This is a predicament because if the road is built without the bridge, how can the villagers on the two river banks fully benefit it?"

Deputy Minister of Rural Development Datuk Tiki Lafe, in his reply, said the project had been handed over by the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Federal Government to the State's PWD.

Tiong said he did not see this as a reason for the delay because his ministry was the body having authority and responsibility over it.

On the construction problems that Tiong was hammering on, Datuk Tiki maintained that the Federal PWD would have to work closely with the State PWD, and the Federal body needed also to listen to the opinions of the State body as well.

Tiong hoped the ministry would not push their responsibility around because ultimately, it was he (Tiong) who had to return to his constituency to face the people.

He hoped the road construction would speed up for their benefits.

Earlier, Datuk Tiki said under the Nineth Malaysia Plan, Sarawak was granted RM392 million for the construction of 32 rural raods.