KUCHING, Oct 17: Sarawak's Public Works Department (JKR) created history when it was crowned as the winner of the Going Digital Award 2025 organized by Bentley Systems in the Roads and Highways category, thus bringing the state's name to the international stage.

According to JKR Sarawak, the prestigious award recognizes the Sarawak Sabah Link Road Phase 2 (SSLR2) project as one of the best examples of sustainable infrastructure implementation that leverages digital innovation at every stage of development.

The award ceremony took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, yesterday, with Sarawak JKR Director, Datu Dr Cassidy Morris, receiving the award after presenting the success of the project to a panel of independent international judges.

According to him, the victory proved the ability of JKR Sarawak to apply technology and digital innovation comprehensively in ensuring the delivery of infrastructure projects in a sustainable manner.

“We are proud to introduce innovative digital approaches used in the delivery of sustainable infrastructure projects.

"For the SSLR2 project, the hilly terrain in the north of Sarawak requires a sustainable engineering and project management approach," he said in the statement, today.

He added that JKR Sarawak also stood out as a leading agency in raising new benchmarks for the implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects not only in Sarawak, but throughout Malaysia.

In the Roads and Highways category, JKR Sarawak beat two other finalists namely Arcadis (Australia) through the Warringah Freeway Upgrade project and PowerChina ZhongNan Engineering Corporation Ltd. (China) for the Ecological Highway project from Detian Transnational Waterfall to Shuolong Border.

A total of nearly 250 entries from 47 countries were received for the Going Digital Awards 2025 which recognize outstanding achievements in the field of global infrastructure engineering through the use of digital innovation, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital twin.

According to Bentley Systems, infrastructure professionals continue to show a high level of ability in strengthening the resilience and productivity of projects despite facing various global challenges including climate change and labor shortages.

The Going Digital Award is considered among the world's highest recognitions for infrastructure projects that demonstrate a real impact on the advancement of digital technology and sustainability.