🔀 For Everyone

Pan Borneo Highway Sabah Progress Tracker 2026: Phase 1A & 1B

Q: When will the Pan Borneo Highway be fully completed?

The target has moved again. Phase 1A stood at 87.86% on 22 July 2026 and now targets mid-2028, revised from the first quarter of 2027 given in February. Phase 1B stood at 13.56% against a scheduled 19.6% as at January 2026, the most recent precise figure published for it. The Works Ministry now gives the fourth quarter of 2030 as the target for both phases together, replacing the fourth quarter of 2028 given for Phase 1B in February. Phases 2 and 3 remain at planning stage with no funding and no timeline.

Q: What is the total cost of the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah?

Phase 1 costs RM24.889 billion — RM10.9 billion for Phase 1A and RM13.989 billion for Phase 1B. That is roughly double the RM12.86 billion estimated in 2015. The Works Ministry attributes the increase to the switch to conventional federal contracting after the project delivery partner model was terminated in 2019, along with changes in scope and design, geotechnical and soil treatment works, large-scale utility relocation, and inflation in materials and labour. The project is fully federally funded. Land acquisition is budgeted separately at RM2.53 billion (State Assembly, November 2024), of which RM1.2 billion had been paid out by July 2026.

Q: Will tolls apply on the Pan Borneo Highway?

No. The Pan Borneo Highway is toll-free. The federal government has committed to this repeatedly since 2015. Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi restated it in August 2025: unlike expressways in Peninsular Malaysia, Pan Borneo is the main route in Sabah and Sarawak with no alternative road, so there is no justification for tolls. There is no concessionaire and no toll operator.

Q: Why is the project running late?

The officially cited causes are land acquisition, utility relocation, and shortages of workers and materials. The bigger structural cause was the termination of the project delivery partner model in 2019, which required the remaining scope to be reassessed and re-tendered under conventional federal contracting. As at January 2026 Phase 1A was running about 11 percentage points behind schedule and Phase 1B about 6 points behind. The Auditor-General's Report 2/2026, published in October 2026, found 13 of the 35 packages behind schedule and nine classed as problem projects as at 31 March 2026.

Q: Who is building the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah?

The Ministry of Works (KKR) implements the project directly, with JKR Sabah acting as Superintending Officer and individual work packages awarded to contractors. Sabah's original project delivery partner, Borneo Highway PDP Sdn Bhd, was terminated in September 2019. (Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd was the Sarawak project delivery partner and never had a role in Sabah.)

Last updated: 7 October 2026

Upgraded trunk road section of the Pan Borneo Highway cutting through Sabah forest landscape with construction equipment visible

ℹ️ The quick answer

Phase 1 of the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah runs 706 km from Sindumin on the Sarawak border to Tawau, at a cost of RM24.889 billion. It is split into Phase 1A (318 km, 16 work packages, RM10.9 billion) and Phase 1B (388 km, 19 packages, RM13.989 billion). On 22 July 2026 Phase 1A was reported 87.86% complete; as at January 2026 it was 86.6% against a scheduled 97.55%. Phase 1B was 13.56% against a scheduled 19.6% as at January 2026, the most recent precise figure published. Phase 1A now targets mid-2028, and both phases together the fourth quarter of 2030. An Auditor-General's report published in October 2026 found only four of the 35 work packages complete as at 31 March 2026. The highway is toll-free and fully federally funded.

🛣️

706

Phase 1 Length

km, Sindumin to Tawau

🏗️

87.86%

Phase 1A Progress

as at 22 July 2026

🚧

13.56%

Phase 1B Progress

vs 19.6% scheduled (Jan 2026)

💰

RM24.9

Phase 1 Cost

billion

📅

Mid-2028

Phase 1A Target

revised July 2026

⏱️

Q4 2030

Phase 1 Target

both phases together

⚠️ Figures are point-in-time

Progress percentages on this project change at almost every parliamentary sitting, and officials sometimes quote figures that conflict: in June 2026 the Works Minister described Phase 1B as under 10% complete, below the 13.56% given to Parliament in February. Every number on this page carries the date it was stated. The latest overall Phase 1A figure is from the Dewan Negara on 22 July 2026; the latest figures against schedule are from the Dewan Rakyat on 26 February 2026, as at January 2026. Figures checked 7 October 2026.

Phase progress against schedule (as at January 2026)

Both phases were running behind schedule — Phase 1A by about 11 percentage points, Phase 1B by about 6. No newer figure against schedule has been published; Phase 1A was reported at 87.86% on 22 July 2026.

Source: Deputy Works Minister, Dewan Rakyat, 26 February 2026 (figures as at January 2026). Checked 7 October 2026.

How the Phase 1A finish date has slipped

Nov 2024 Target: first quarter of 2026 Stated November 2024.
Oct 2025 Target moves to March 2027 Stated October 2025.
Feb 2026 Target: first quarter of 2027 Dewan Rakyat, 26 February 2026.
Jul 2026Now Target moves to mid-2028 Dewan Negara, 22 July 2026. Both phases together: fourth quarter of 2030.

Source: RTM; Bernama; parliamentary answers. Checked 7 October 2026

Project overview

The Pan Borneo Highway is the largest road project ever undertaken in Sabah. Phase 1 covers 706 km running from Sindumin, on the Sabah–Sarawak border, through Beaufort, Papar, Kota Kinabalu, Telupid, Sandakan and Lahad Datu, to Tawau in the south-east. Rather than building new alignments everywhere, the programme mostly widens, straightens and upgrades existing trunk roads, adding new sections where the terrain demands it.

For the route, which corridors fall in each phase and what the highway is for, see the Pan Borneo Highway explainer.

It is not a Peninsular-style tolled expressway. It is a federally funded trunk road upgrade, delivered as 35 separate work packages that open individually as they finish, which is why parts of the route are already in use while others have barely started.

Delivery changed hands early in the project's life. Sabah's original project delivery partner, Borneo Highway PDP Sdn Bhd, was appointed in April 2016 and terminated in September 2019, with only a small share of the work complete. The Ministry of Works now implements the project directly, with JKR Sabah as Superintending Officer. That switch is the single biggest reason the cost roughly doubled.

Phase 1A: 318 km, 16 work packages

Phase 1A carries the west coast trunk — Sindumin, Sipitang, Beaufort, Bongawan, Papar, Putatan, Kota Kinabalu, Inanam, Sepanggar and on towards Rampayan Laut — plus three detached packages on the east coast: the Tawau–Semporna junction, the Lahad Datu Bypass, and the Sandakan–Telupid stretch. It is not one continuous road, and it does not run "Kota Kinabalu to Kimanis": Kimanis is not a Phase 1A boundary at all.

Phase 1A costs RM10.9 billion. As at January 2026 it stood at 86.6% against a scheduled 97.55% (Dewan Rakyat, 26 February 2026), and on 22 July 2026 the Deputy Works Minister told the Dewan Negara it had reached 87.86%. The completion target keeps slipping: the first quarter of 2026 (stated November 2024), March 2027 (October 2025), the first quarter of 2027 (February 2026), and now mid-2028 (July 2026).

Official statements differ on the Phase 1A package count. The Deputy Works Minister gave 16 in the Dewan Rakyat on 14 July 2026, the most recent official figure, and 16 plus Phase 1B's 19 matches the 35 packages counted by the Auditor-General. Statements in February, May and June 2026 gave 15.

Phase 1A reported progress, by date stated (July 2024 to July 2026)

Each point is a figure stated publicly by a minister or the Works Ministry on that date. The points are evenly spaced but the dates are not: gaps range from one month to eleven months. Progress slowed through 2026, about 1.3 points between January and July. A separate 86.6% figure given to the Dewan Rakyat on 26 February 2026 was as at January 2026.

Source: Daily Express, Bernama, Sabah Media, Sinar Harian, Nabalu News and RTM, July 2024 to July 2026. Checked 7 October 2026.

Phase 1B: 388 km, 19 work packages

Phase 1B is the larger and later phase, covering four separate corridors rather than a single stretch:

North-west: Kota Belud to Kudat
Central: Telupid to Ranau
North-east: Lahad Datu to Sandakan
South-east: Tawau to Lahad Datu

Letters of acceptance went to 13 contractors in October 2024, with construction periods of 36 to 48 months. The allocation is RM13.989 billion, fully federally funded. As at January 2026 the phase stood at 13.56% against a scheduled 19.6% (Dewan Rakyat, 26 February 2026). The Works Ministry now targets the fourth quarter of 2030 for Phase 1B together with Phase 1A, replacing the fourth quarter of 2028 given in February.

Three of the central packages — running from Kampung Lumou Baru through Kampung Toupos and Kampung Nabutan to Ranau, some 70.2 km in total — were reported underway in April 2025.

Phases 2 and 3: still at planning stage

Beyond Phase 1, two further phases exist on paper only. Answering the State Assembly in November 2024, Deputy Chief Minister Shahelmey Yahya set out:

Phase 2 — the Tamparuli–Ranau alignment, around 98 km
Phase 3 — Kimanis–Keningau–Kalabakan–Tawau, around 432 km

Both are at planning stage, with implementation dependent on government approval and financial capacity. No cost estimate, contract award or start date has been published for either. Anyone quoting a budget or a completion year for these phases is guessing.

Cars on the new Pan Borneo dual carriageway near Papar, with a power pylon and hills behind — The new Pan Borneo dual carriageway from Papar towards Beaufort, June 2026. Photo: GTheChris, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

Yellow roadside notice reading Kawasan Pembinaan Lebuhraya Pan Borneo WP19, with oil palms behind — Construction notice for Pan Borneo package WP19 at Silam, June 2025. Photo: Taufik, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

What has actually opened

The highway opens in pieces. Four packages had been completed by 31 December 2023:

Donggongon–Papar
Kampung Lot M to Mile 32, Sandakan
Tawau–Semporna
Lahad Datu Bypass

In May 2026 the Deputy Works Minister said nine more Phase 1A packages would be completed during 2026, including two on the Putatan–Menggatal route, due to open from July 2026 and giving traffic a way around Kota Kinabalu city centre. Four more Phase 1A packages are scheduled for 2027. Across Phase 1 the ministry expects 12 packages to be completed in 2028, three in 2029 and the final three by 2030. In July 2026 the ministry repeated the target of nine packages by the end of the year.

The 35 work packages: done, and when the rest are due

Complete 4 of 35 Donggongon–Papar, Lot M–Mile 32 Sandakan, Tawau–Semporna, Lahad Datu Bypass
Due in 2026 9 of 35 Phase 1A, incl. two on Putatan–Menggatal
Due in 2027 4 of 35 Phase 1A
Due in 2028 12 of 35
Due in 2029 3 of 35
Due by 2030 3 of 35

Due dates are the Works Ministry's plan, stated in May 2026. Bars show packages out of 35.

Source: NST and Auditor-General's Report 2/2026 (completed packages); Bernama, May 2026 (schedule). Checked 7 October 2026

The Auditor-General's Report 2/2026, published on 5 October 2026, found that as at 31 March 2026 only these four of the 35 packages were complete. Of the rest, 13 were behind schedule, nine were ahead, and nine were classed as problem ("sakit") projects.

What the 13th Malaysia Plan says: the federal plan for 2026–2030 records that only four of the 35 work packages in Sabah had been completed as at December 2024. It commits to completing the subsequent Pan Borneo packages in Sabah, the Sarawak–Sabah Link Road and the Trans Borneo Highway during the plan period, and names the Sabah Pan Borneo Highway and the Sarawak–Sabah Link Road among the projects that will underpin construction growth (13th Malaysia Plan, pp.1-17, 3-24 and 3-26). See what the 13th Malaysia Plan promises Sabah, and the new Kalabakan–Simanggaris road, which starts at Kalabakan on the planned Phase 3 alignment.

Why it has run late

The causes cited officially are consistent across parliamentary answers and ministry statements:

Land acquisition — disputes and compensation have held up work fronts. Land acquisition for Phase 1 was budgeted at RM2.53 billion in November 2024, of which RM1.2 billion had been paid by July 2026.
Utility relocation — SESB power lines, water mains and telecoms sit within the road reserve and must be moved, in sequence, without cutting off nearby communities.
Worker and material shortages — securing labour and machinery has been difficult, particularly in the period after COVID.
Terrain and soil — stretches through the interior cross soft ground and hilly terrain, complicating foundations, drainage and embankments.

Underlying all of it is the 2019 termination of the project delivery partner model, which required the remaining scope to be reassessed five years after the original estimate and re-procured under conventional federal contracting.

Cost and funding

Phase 1 was estimated at RM12.86 billion in 2015. It now stands at RM24.889 billion — RM10.9 billion for Phase 1A and RM13.989 billion for Phase 1B.

The Works Ministry attributes the increase to the change in delivery model, changes in scope and design, geotechnical structures and soil treatment, large-scale utility relocation, and inflation in the price of steel, bitumen, cement, machinery and labour.

The Auditor-General's Report 2/2026 gives different figures: a projected Phase 1 cost of RM18.96 billion, up from RM17.91 billion, with Phase 1A at RM11.323 billion. The published summaries do not explain how these relate to the Works Ministry's RM24.889 billion, so treat them as separate measures rather than a correction.

The project is fully federally funded. There is no state cost-share, no private concession and no toll. Phases 2 and 3 have no allocation.

ℹ️ No tolls

The Pan Borneo Highway is toll-free, and has been a stated federal commitment since 2015. The reasoning given by the Works Minister is that unlike expressways in Peninsular Malaysia, Pan Borneo is the main route across Sabah and Sarawak with no alternative road alongside it, so there is no basis for charging. There is no concessionaire and no toll operator appointed.

Frequently asked questions

Q When will the Pan Borneo Highway be fully completed?

The target has moved again. Phase 1A stood at 87.86% on 22 July 2026 and now targets mid-2028, revised from the first quarter of 2027 given in February. Phase 1B stood at 13.56% against a scheduled 19.6% as at January 2026, the most recent precise figure published for it. The Works Ministry now gives the fourth quarter of 2030 as the target for both phases together, replacing the fourth quarter of 2028 given for Phase 1B in February. Phases 2 and 3 remain at planning stage with no funding and no timeline.

Q What is the total cost of the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah?

Phase 1 costs RM24.889 billion — RM10.9 billion for Phase 1A and RM13.989 billion for Phase 1B. That is roughly double the RM12.86 billion estimated in 2015. The Works Ministry attributes the increase to the switch to conventional federal contracting after the project delivery partner model was terminated in 2019, along with changes in scope and design, geotechnical and soil treatment works, large-scale utility relocation, and inflation in materials and labour. The project is fully federally funded. Land acquisition is budgeted separately at RM2.53 billion (State Assembly, November 2024), of which RM1.2 billion had been paid out by July 2026.

Q Will tolls apply on the Pan Borneo Highway?

No. The Pan Borneo Highway is toll-free. The federal government has committed to this repeatedly since 2015. Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi restated it in August 2025: unlike expressways in Peninsular Malaysia, Pan Borneo is the main route in Sabah and Sarawak with no alternative road, so there is no justification for tolls. There is no concessionaire and no toll operator.

Q Can I drive the Pan Borneo Highway now (2026)?

Parts of it, yes — the highway opens package by package rather than all at once. Four packages were completed by the end of 2023: Donggongon–Papar, Mile 32–Kampung Lot M in Sandakan, Tawau–Semporna, and the Lahad Datu Bypass. In May 2026 the Works Ministry said nine more Phase 1A packages would be completed during 2026, including two on the Putatan–Menggatal route around Kota Kinabalu due to open from July, with four more in 2027. Elsewhere, expect active construction, lane closures and diversions.

Q What are the Phase 2 and Phase 3 details?

Answering the State Assembly in November 2024, Deputy Chief Minister Shahelmey Yahya said Phase 2 covers the Tamparuli–Ranau alignment of around 98 km, and Phase 3 runs Kimanis–Keningau–Kalabakan–Tawau over around 432 km. Both remain at planning stage. Implementation depends on government approval and financial capacity. No cost, contract or start date has been published for either.

Q Why is the project running late?

The officially cited causes are land acquisition, utility relocation, and shortages of workers and materials. The bigger structural cause was the termination of the project delivery partner model in 2019, which required the remaining scope to be reassessed and re-tendered under conventional federal contracting. As at January 2026 Phase 1A was running about 11 percentage points behind schedule and Phase 1B about 6 points behind. The Auditor-General's Report 2/2026, published in October 2026, found 13 of the 35 packages behind schedule and nine classed as problem projects as at 31 March 2026.

Q Who is building the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah?

The Ministry of Works (KKR) implements the project directly, with JKR Sabah acting as Superintending Officer and individual work packages awarded to contractors. Sabah's original project delivery partner, Borneo Highway PDP Sdn Bhd, was terminated in September 2019. (Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd was the Sarawak project delivery partner and never had a role in Sabah.)