SANDAKAN – It was not a “Merry Christmas” for some people who had to experience the treacherous Jalan Telupid, two hours from Sandakan town.
Two days after celebrating Christmas, people shared their daunting experience of the road that had led to broken rims and punctured tyres.
The road is the only route connecting Sabah’s east coast districts of Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan and Tawau to the districts on the west coast, including the state capital Kota Kinabalu.
Facebook user Hanafie Rasit said that yesterday he saw about five cars stranded by the roadside, either because of punctured tyres or broken rims.
Some Facebook users here commented on the ISU Sandakan Facebook page, stating that about 10 vehicles had stopped by the roadside on Jalan Telupid, near Sapi Nangoh, to the Mile 32 Checkpoint junction at about 6.30pm yesterday due to flat tyres.
ISU Sandakan is a Facebook page run by locals who post current issues and updates that happen around the district.
Some users even shared that there were many potholes, which were almost impossible to avoid.
At the same time, another Facebook user named Bec Ker shared about her damaged car rims, which were caused by the potholes.
Other users also claimed that they suffered flat tyres despite driving below 60km/h, citing that it could have been worse if they had driven faster.
Most users tagged the Sabah Works Department’s Facebook page in their comments, hoping that the department would take action and repair the road.
Netizens also took a swipe at the state government by sarcastically commenting, “Sabah Maju Jaya!” – the tagline of the current Gabungan Rakyat Sabah state government.
Similar incidents were reported on the same stretch of road in December two years ago. At the time, people started calling the stretch of road “Jalan Bulan” or “moon road” for its resemblance to the moon’s surface.
Jalan Bulan, involving about a 6.4-km stretch of road from Mile 28 to Mile 32, was later temporarily repaired in 2022, but it was merely to repair the potholes – which appeared again this year following heavy rain.
The stretch of road, involving about 10km of road after Mile 32 heading to the Beluran junction (Jalan Telupid), also became worse over time.
At the time in 2022, despite announcing that the stretch of road had “expired,” the Sabah government said it had no plan to reconstruct the road as it would be replaced with the upcoming Pan Borneo Highway Project.
The Pan Borneo Highway Project on the said road is currently still ongoing, but the existing road is getting worse with more potholes appearing along the road. – December 27, 2023