Several varsities keen to open branches in Papar
Published on: Tuesday, January 01, 2019
Papar: Several universities have expressed interest to open branches in Papar as part of the Sabah Government's move to make the district an education hub, said Pantai Manis Assemblyman Datuk Aidi Mokhtar (pic).Speaking to reporters after a charity event here on Monday, Aidi said a meeting had been held with Lincoln University College, located in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, to discuss the matter."The health-based university may open a branch in Papar and carry out programmes like diplomas. We have discussed with them. They may need 20-30 acres for their campus," he said.
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"No particular land has been earmarked yet, but it depends on how suitable the land is for Lincoln. They will earmark the land that they like."Aidi, who is also Minister of Law and Native Affairs, said Papar had been announced as an education hub by the Sabah Government and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal."Priority will be given to technical and vocational education and several universities are interested to offer technical programmes in Papar," he said."The Ministry of Education and Innovation will arrange for this while we in Papar will be the coordinators. We will locate the education hub in several clusters in the district instead of only one area.
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"We are not sure yet when the first university is planned to start, but State Education and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob will make the plans and look for investors."The hub may have an international status if students from BIMP-EAGA [Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines-East Asean Growth Area] come over here to study."
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Daily Express reported Yusof in July as saying that the State Government plans to set up the education hub in Papar and towards the south."We have identified the location – there are many open spaces available in that area, and we will set up a working committee to further study the plan," he said in that report.Such hub, Yusof said, is needed to provide a readily available site for the campus construction of any new colleges or higher learning institutions.Apart from the education hub project, Aidi hoped Papar will also be further developed by the relocation of the Kota KInabalu International Airport, a plan that he said had been mulled over by the Government."I hope in 10-15 years, the international airport will be moved to Papar because KK will no longer be suitable for it," he said."The Government used to think about moving it to Kimanis but maybe the economy at the time was not so good, but 15 years from now, we will not be able to cope with the increasing foreign tourist arrivals at the current airport."He envisaged that with the new airport in Kimanis, the road network between the State capital and Papar will be improved."The roads will be improved and there may be an LRT or ERL system to connect both places which are only 36km apart. The Papar bridge will be improved and there'll a need for a second one in Buang Sayang," he said."We also hope the Federal Government will go ahead with the plan to build a coastal highway from Lok Kawi to Melingsung. "People will have choices of the Pan Borneo Highway and the coastal highway when travelling to Papar. The Pantai Manis constituency will enjoy more development."Aidi said a panel of 11 professional advisers had been set up to look into enhancing Pantai Manis development."A blueprint has been completed. We will make Pantai Manis a tourism spot. And Kinarut south will be a low-density industrial area while Kimanis will be a high-density industrial one," he said.Earlier during the charity event dubbed "Back to School", Aidi handed over school goodies to 480 needy students from 18 schools in the Pantai Manis constituency.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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