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Chronicles o James : The Journey of Online Learning

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Network of Rivers - Arteries of Sarawak

Why there are not much roads in Sarawak?    

Why it takes so long to construct roads in Sarawak?  

Why are Sarawak’s roads so bumpy? So winding? So narrow?

There are lots of questions Sarawakians tend to ask, especially those had travel overseas and seen the roads in other country.

The answer is never easy.   Not only because of corruption and mismanagement of resources, but it covers far beyond that.  

The truth is, I believe : lies beneath our own feet, literally speaking.
 
 

 
The answer is best answered by an engineer and a geologist.  But I believe it can be answered by simply understanding the basic of road construction.
  

FACT #1

 
Nak tak nak, with the current technology, the only way of making a paved road is either asphalt or concrete.  Either way, these 3 components are inevitable :  Soil, Aggregates, Binders.
 
 

Soil

Soil is the base of roads.  It provide the foundation for road construction.  Soil with high clay and organic matter are disaster in making road.  Sarawak soil are rich in peat soil at the coastal area, and sedimentary material in the inland. 
 

Aggregate

Stone aggregate, also known as mineral aggregate, is easily the most important component of road construction materials. It is made by breaking up naturally occurring rocks.    Aggregates are used for granular bases, sub-bases, as part of bituminous mixes and cement concrete.
 

Binders

The binders are to bind the aggregates and sand into a composite mix.  Most common binder used in Malaysia is bitumen, a product of distillation of crude petroleum.  Cement is another binder, but concrete road are less common in our land.
 

( Betulkah jurutera kalian ?  Ada betul hujah saya ? )

 
  
 

 

FACT #2

Source : Adepehin, E.J., Ali, C.A., Zakaria, A.A. et al. An overview of 20 years’ hydrocarbon exploration studies and findings in the Late Cretaceous-to-Tertiary onshore Central Sarawak, NW Borneo: 1997–2017 in retrospect. J Petrol Explor Prod Technol 9, 1593–1614 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13202-018-0591-8
 
Looking at the geological map of Sarawak, huge chunk of the area is arenaceous ( coloured yellow ) and argillaceous ( coloured light green ) in the interior, and peat ( coloured gray ) along the coast.   Both arenaceous and argillaceous are sedimentary rocks, which are easily broken when crushed. The coastal peat are lagi nightmare for constructions.
 

ini macam batu, sekali ketuk dah pecah. Apa macam bikin jalan?

There are some pockets of andesitic, dacitic and some other granite rock ( coloured in different hues of red ) at the western tip of Kuching Division.  The granite rock are the only ideal material for construction.
 

( I cakap kosong ni.  Geologists kalian, please back me up !)

  
 

CONCLUSION

 
In a nutshell, there are no much hard rock formation found in Sarawak.  Not to mention the discrete location of the quarry, which are very far away from the rest of Sarawak, making it costly to the transport of aggregate to other part of Sarawak, therefore making aggregate a scarce commodity.
 
Adding up all the factors, road construction is Sarawak is a very difficult, expensive and impossible task!  Not forget to mention all other mega projects which requires lots of aggregate.

Ini belum lagi cerita our soil condition with the sedimentary and peat material, cannot be properly compacted to provide strong base for the roads.  At the end of the day, the roads sunken.  

ALTERNATIVES

 
So my suggestion is back to river transportation !
 
Sarawak is linked with networks of river systems.   For the past, Sarawakian has been relied on sampans, speadboats, express boats, and all sorts of marine vessel. 
 
All the cities, towns, pekans, and ngagas are situated by rivers.  All settlements, big and small, have their own jetty, some even have several jetties.  Every household have a sampans or few, many with outboard motors.   At its peak, Sibu has overs 40 shipyards, building and export vessels of world-class qualilty.
 
So I suggest, we go back to the river transportation.
 

( Hey, it could become Sarawak owns special identity !  macam Venice lah tu )

 
 
Secondly, we could try venture into new way of transportation : seaplane : floatplanes & flying boats.   It can land in many of our rivers and sea, so no need to janji politik to built airport for every town, thus no issue of aggregate issue.

( ini baru everyone can fly )

 
 
 
 
 
 

In Memory : E. Soepadmo