Beautifying the riverbanks

KOTA KINABALU: The city’s riverfront is set to take on a new look by 2012. After months of planning and negotiations, the first parcel of the Sungai Sembulan Beautifi-cation Project is finally taking off. Kota Kinabalu City mayor Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim said the Sembulan river beautification project, costing RM25mil, involved the construction of the Sembulan riverbank in the Karamunsing and Sembulan areas adjoining Sadong Jaya here. “It will be constructed by Abad Jaya Construction Sdn Bhd, who won the open tender for the project. “It is expected to be completed by 2012,” he said when announcing it.

Big plans: The Sembulan riverbank will look like this in 2012.

He said the Sembulan River Beautification Project was one of three tourism-related projects for Kota Kinabalu City being funded by the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) under the Sabah Development Corridor. The other two projects are the coastal bicycle path between Tanjung Aru and UMS and the upgrading of the historical precinct of Kota Kinabalu City. Construction works are divided into three parcels. Only works in Parcel One have commenced while the others are delayed due to several outstanding issues such as the need to relocate squatters, several abandoned buildings and land exchanges.

Iliyas said a total of RM45mil had been allocated to the Sembulan river beautification project, which involved beautifying the riverbanks of both Sungai Sembulan and Sungai Karamunsing, between the South China Sea and Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman adjacent to the MUIS building and Sungai Karamunsing to Jalan Kemajuan adjacent to the flyover. He said massive changes were expected to take place in the adjoining areas, and that building owners and businesses needed to cooperate to help transform the whole area into a vibrant tourism hub with dining and entertainment establishments of international standards. He stressed that building owners and the nearby residents in the Sembulan area should see this as an opportunity to upgrade and beautify their buildings and houses, so that visitors and tourists would be impressed. Iliyas said the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) was going far beyond carrying out the normal “repair” job on an old part of the city.

He said the project’s design was of an international standard and was prepared by Innotech Design Architects Sdn Bhd, which together with AIA Consortium Consultancy Services and their team of experts, had taken into consideration concepts and lessons learned from cities that had developed their waterfronts such as Singapore, Seoul, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Sydney and Melbourne. He added that the architect had also earmarked several public sites for outdoor entertainment and a number of spots for public art such as sculptures and fountains. Iliyas reminded the public not to confuse beautification and transformation of the Sembulan and Karamunsing riverbanks with the cleaning and rehabilitation of the rivers as those issues would be looked into separately by DBKK.

He also appealed to building owners, business proprietors, customers and residents of the Sungai Sembulan area, particularly in Sadong Jaya, to be patient with DBKK over the project. He pointed out that DBKK had come up with a traffic plan and parking areas, but added that the plan might be altered over the construction period.

-thestar online.