International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-9 Issue-4, November 2020 Study on the Transportation System in the East Coast of Sabah Mohd Azizul Bin Ladin, Fariq Ismeth Jaimin, Nazaruddin Abdul Taha, Lillian Gungat, Abdul Karim Mirasa, Sidah Binti Idris Abstract: Being situated in eastern Malaysia, Sabah is one of be divided into two areas, urban and rural. Within the urban the states which have a firm economic foundation through areas of Sabah, the road networks are better, and some types agriculture, forestry as well as petroleum industries. However, of public transportation, although unreliable, are available for even though it is rich with the natural resources that have long the public. However, like other urban road networks in the served for the country’s economic growth, as a whole, Sabah is considered a little behind her counterparts in the Peninsular world, it faces its main adversary, the road congestion. This Malaysia in terms of infrastructure and development. This study causes pollution and harm to the environment as well as the mainly examines the transportation network in Semporna, Tawau health of the citizens within the area. Moving on to the rural and Lahad Datu which is mostly in poor condition. This is side of Sabah, congestion is not a serious issue as the road because it is extensively used for the industrial activities including network in the area is not connected enough to even create logging, palm industries and quarries. Based on the survey, it is road congestion. The sight of gravel roads, mud path, and found that the road mostly had potholes, edge raveling, uneven surfaces, road rutting, congestion problems and limited parking potholes are the norm. When there are paved roads available, spaces. Hence, it is recommended to do the pavement repairs, solid some areas are poorly lit as there is no streetlamps installed, foundation work as well as enhancing the existing public making travel during the night dangerous. Mobility for people transportation system especially in the rural areas in Sabah. in rural areas is only practical by owning a car. This is the Keywords : Eastern Sabah, Transportation Network, Transport same case in Western Europe, which in turn has a dense Issues, Public Transport, Road Condition population compared to the situation here. The rural areas are usually lacking in public transportation or has insufficient I. INTRODUCTION standard to guarantee independent travel [3]. To bridge the gap between urban and rural areas, the transportation network Although an oil-rich region part of Malaysia, Sabah is must be improved. Therefore, this study was initiated to study slightly behind its counterpart in the Peninsula. It is one of the the transportation system in the east coast of Sabah. There three partners along with Singapore and Sarawak that entered have been many studies on the problem of transportation, a pact with Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia in however, most of these studies are focused on the objective of 1963, just a few weeks after gaining its independence from the minimizing travel costs, or enhancement of capacity [4]. British [1]. It has seen its skyline changed, the city has These objectives are more focused on urban areas and it is not expanded out towards the sea and in towards the jungle. applicable to rural areas. On the other hand, for a rural road Unfortunately, similar to all developing nations in the world, network, the objectives should be adjusted accordingly, as there are still issues that have yet to be resolved. Most road expansion is not a priority for rural transportation, but prominent is the issue of transportation in both urban and rural cost minimization or maximization of coverage area should parts of the nation. When compared between East and West be a top priority [5]. Malaysia, it can be observed that the vehicle preferences are different. In Sabah and Sarawak, the roads are dominated by SUV or other type of four-wheel drive vehicles. This is due to the different road conditions and geography of the region, which is different to the road conditions and network found in the more flat regions in the Peninsula. As such, the road tax is lower for vehicles in Sabah and Sarawak due to its different requirements [2]. Like other developing nations, Sabah can Revised Manuscript Received on November 20, 2020. * Correspondence Author Mohd Azizul Bin Ladin *, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Figure 1.1: Example of the rural road condition in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Email: [email protected] several areas in Sabah Fariq Ismeth Jaimin, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Email: [email protected] In rural areas, poor road surface condition as shown in Nazaruddin Abdul Taha, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Figure 1.1 directly affects the vehicle operation cost and Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Email: [email protected] travel time. Which in turn negatively impact the Lillian Gungat, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota socio-economic costs [6]. Kinabalu, Sabah. Email: [email protected] Abdul Karim Mirasa, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Email: [email protected] Sidah Binti Idris, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Email: [email protected] Published By: Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijrte.B3891079220 Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering DOI:10.35940/ijrte.B3891.119420 103 and Sciences Publication Study on the Transportation System in the East Coast of Sabah Further elaborating on this, bad road condition increases the rolling resistance and road roughness, which directly influences the vehicle speed, fuel consumption and repair costs. Thus, by improving the road surface, it will directly contribute to the improvement of the operation costs. Another pressing issue in rural road network is the insufficient road coverage. Improvement of road network coverage is essential for the development of the area and also to provide opportunity for social and economic activities [5]. Several researches have been conducted in developing nations with the focus on the relationship between road network conditions and economic developments [7; 8; 9]. The general public also widely accepts that improvement of road network will bring about significant social benefits. These benefits in most cases are not measurable in monetary terms, such as improved access to schools and healthcare [7]. Other benefit includes reduced excessive walking and porterage especially among women [10;11]. Although it is widely accepted that the improvements in rural road network do provide benefits in terms of social and monetary Figure 1.2 Scope of works of the research indicators, it is not guaranteed. This has been observed by several researchers [12;13;14]. All these authors argued that IV. DISCUSSION the general assumption that road network improvements will lead to more improvements of public transportation does not The Tawau Division is approximately 14,905 square always apply. It is argued that a better understanding of the kilometres in area which is about 20% of the total area in situation and the area is important to leverage the actual Sabah, while the estimated population in this division is at livelihood benefits more effectively. 412,375 people as of 2010 [1]. The ethnic indigenous people here make up to 79.8% of the total population, while the II. OBJECTIVES second largest group is the ethnic Chinese which is estimated to be at 17.2%. There is about 0.4% of Indian population in The main objectives of this study are as follow: Tawau, and 2.6% of the people are grouped as „others‟ 1. To evaluate the accessibility of the existing according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (2010). transportation network (road, air, and water) for The main indigenous group of Tawau consists of Bajau, Semporna and Tawau. Suluk, Ida‟an, Tidong, Cocos, Murut, Lun Dayeh/Lun 2. To identify the possible transportation network and Bawang, and there are also several minority mixed ethnic contribution towards socio-economic development groups [15; 16]. Tawau has two (2) main airports located in for Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau. Lahad Datu district and another in the Tawau district. The 3. To propose options for connectivity improvement. Tawau Airport is closest to all three districts except for the district of Lahad Datu. Tawau is the third largest town and has III. METHODOLOGY the third largest port in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu and Survey questionnaires are used during this study, which Sandakan. The main export of the port is timber and consists of several different subjects of research. The subjects agricultural products. The town is located at the south eastern are based on the stated research objectives. The target part of Sabah, and shares a border with North Kalimantan. It population for this study is the remote area in the East Coast is also surrounded by the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea. of Sabah namely Lahad Datu, Tawau, and Semporna. Semporna is a district to the eastern side of Tawau district, The scope of work is illustrated in Figure 1.2. It is divided and to the south of Kunak and Lahad Datu. The town is into three main parts, which is the preliminary or desk studies, approximately an hour and a half drive from Tawau airport, site visitation and data collection, data analysis, and lastly and is connected to the rest of Sabah via roads. According to proposal of improvement options. the Department of Statistics Malaysia (2010), the population of Semporna is estimated to be around 137,868 as of 2010. According to study done by Assoc. Prof. Dr Ismail Ali of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, a large population of the nomadic sea people, Bajau Laut also known as Pala‟u is found in Semporna [17,18].