No State funding now for TAED
Published on: Sunday, October 20, 2019
By: David Thien
KOTA KINABALU: State Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Junz Wong (pic) said the Sabah Government is not funding the progress of the Tanjung Aru Eco-Development (TAED) project led by re-appointed CEO Datuk Victor Paul who is raising the funds from potential investors.
“So far, RM90 million had been spent to do the necessary studies, EIA and land acquisition compensation,” he said.
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Wong, who is also Tanjung Aru Assemblyman, said this when met at the welcome dinner hosted for the Archbishop of Canterbury recently by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, recently.
“The final decision lies in the hands of the Chief Minister and State Cabinet over the estimated RM4 billion needed to realise the transformative potential of TAED to boost the State’s economy and provide thousands of employment opportunities to retain local talents with higher paying jobs,” he said.
He said it was premature to engage with NGOs like Sabah Society which was desirous of organising a public forum and wished to invite speakers like himself, Victor Paul, Datuk Joseph Ambrose Lee, Douglas Barnes and others to enlighten the public as the matter is of public interest.
On the insistence of some NGOs of not creating an artificial beach to replace the current eroded and polluted Tanjung Aru second and third beach with muddy sediments from the Putatan River and litters from coastal settlements, Wong asked if they were aware that Australia’s Bondi beach in Sydney has man-made features such as the parks, sea baths and the elegant arches of the Surf Pavilion.
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Australian cities like Melbourne and Brisbane do not have good beaches. Melbourne is situated on Port Phillip Bay, an almost totally enclosed expanse of water, and as such, the metropolitan beaches are more akin to what you get around a large lake with coarse granular brown sand.
Quality beaches can be found 80-90km (50-55 miles) to the south at Torquay or Sorrento on the ocean side of the bay. The legendary surf break of Bell’s Beach is right next to Torquay.
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Brisbane suffers similar problems as Melbourne with the city built next to Moreton Bay, which is sheltered by a series of large islands.
Being close to the tropics, this bay is very tidal and at times is more mud flat than beach. To appease the locals, they built an artificial beach on the Brisbane River in the city centre.
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Excellent natural beaches can be found at the Sunshine Coast, 90km (55 miles) to the north and the Gold Coast, 70km (40 miles) to the south.
Sabah’s Kinabalu Gold Coast is its prime coastal resort tourism belt with excellent beaches that Club Med is exploring to open a resort besides others like Alila Hotels and Resorts.