An environmental activist urged the Sabah state government to reconsider its plan to do land reclamation at Prince Philip Park, which is part of Tanjung Aru beach.
This comes after Chief Minister Hajiji Noor reportedly said two days ago that Prince Philip Park will be expanded to 40.4ha from its current size of 8.9ha.
While Hajiji did not say whether the reclamation would be under the planned Tanjung Aru Eco Development (TAED) project, Jefferi Chang (above) of the Save Open Space Kota Kinabalu movement linked the two together and said the reclamation would alter the natural line of the beach.
"We are sad to learn that the state government under Hajiji's leadership has decided to restart the reclamation project at Tanjung Aru beach.
"Not long ago in 2021, state minister Bung Moktar Radin announced that TAED would not involve any land reclamation activities.
"The agreement between TAED and Handal Borneo Resources Sdn Bhd came with a 15-year deal to sand supply and reclamation activities.
"While there are still no details regarding the reclamation project from the government, it is obvious that it will follow the approved and gazetted TAED Development Local Plan," Chang said in a statement.
Yesterday, the Sabah-based portal the Daily Express reported that the state government planned to expand the size of the historical Prince Philip Park in Tanjung Aru to 40.4ha.
He was quoted saying that the expansion was part of a proposal to improve the condition of the Tanjung Aru beach.
Chang urged the chief minister to stop the reclamation plan and return the land area to the Kota Kinabalu City Hall to manage and maintain.
"Under DBKK, the council incorporated the first to the third beach into a single beach, which made it the biggest beach park in Sabah if not Malaysia.
"Prince Philip Park can be expanded in such a way as to allow for more health and recreation activities and also to build more public space facilities for social and community events," he said.
In January 2021, Bung, who is the Sabah deputy chief minister and state works minister, reportedly announced that TAED would not involve land reclamation, a decision that was well received by those fighting to keep the beach in its natural state. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.