Mayor evasive, KK citizens livid

The Kota Kinabalu City Hall's Draft Plan 2020 appears to be championing 'commercial interests' as opposed to preserving the city's 113-year-old history.

KOTA KINABALU: The state Barisan Nasional government has again come under fire for ignoring the culture and heritage of the state capital and its surroundings and letting commercial interests dictate city planning.

A group of city-dwellers who have viewed the city’s ‘DBKK Local Draft Plan 2020′ believe plans are in place to bulldoze the remaining vestiges of the 113-year-old city’s colonial legacy and turn it into a crass, characterless business centre.

“If you want the people of Sabah to love Kota Kinabalu, please protect our city history,” said Richard Sokial, a spokesman for Heritage Sabah, a NGO dedicated to preserving the state’s historical structures and places of interest.

The ad hoc pressure group comprising concerned citizens are particularly incensed that there has been no response from the government on an unpopular commercial project sited next to the historical Atkinson Clock Tower.

Another Heritage Sabah official, Jefferi Chang, and a group of concerned citizens, who attended City Hall’s ‘Meet the Client Session’ on Dec 21, petitioned the local authority to reject the 16-storey project next to the clock tower, city’s oldest historical monument.

The group questioned the wisdom of the zoning of the Atkinson Clock Tower and its surrounding area – Town Padang, Australia Place, KK Community Hall and Gaya Street under ‘Commercial Zone’ and during the recent Sabah State Planning Standards Workshop held on last week, Heritage Sabah reps suggested for special controls to be implemented for all known historical sites and buildings so that their integrity and intrinsic value would not be compromised by uncontrolled commercial developments.

“It would be wiser to consider rezoning this stretch of area as a “historical preservation district”.

Mayor evasive
Having a Historical Preservation District would add more variety and interest to our city, which will be 113 years in 2012”, Sokial said.

“There needs to be a conscious effort made by the local authorities to preserve Kota Kinabalu’s city history.

“A city that neglects its historical sites and buildings loses a lot of its attractions,” he said regarding Sabah’s state capital that was established as Jesselton township in 1899.

He said Heritage Sabah had submitted their objections of the DBKK Local Draft Plan 2020 during the Public Consultation period

The said public consultation period was supposed to end on Dec 26, 2011 but was extended to Jan 26 next year.

According to sources, the DBKK Local Draft Plan 2020 provides little protection for few remaining green areas in the city and residents fear that hill-cutting that has scarred much of a ridge running the length of the city will proceed unabated and more commercial development will take place in such sensitive areas.

Chang has urged Mayor Abidin Madingkir to make the right decision to reject any commercial developments which could adversely impact upon the historical Atkinson Clock Tower.

“We hope he will make the right decision for the Atkinson Clock Tower and not be pressured to be a rubber stamp for people in high places,” said Sokial in a statement over Christmas.

However, Abidin’s evasive reply saying he needs to seek further details from the state government on the status of the commercial project which critics say is contravening the heritage laws, has raised further questions over who is behind the proposal.

“By seeking further details from the state town planning authorities it shows that DBKK is relying on the State Town and Regional Planning Department for advice when in fact they have their own Town Planning Department and a City Planning Committee that approved the plan.

“From what we understand, the only body other than City Hall itself that can be asked for advice should be the Central Town and County Planning Board,” Sokial pointed out.