Tg Aru management cites safety and dirty water concerns for Third Beach restricted access
Published on: Wednesday, May 24, 2023
By: Malay Mail
The entire Tanjung Aru beach is about a 2.5km stretch popular among city dwellers and visitors for its welcoming sandy beach and sunset. (Malay Mail pic)
Kota Kinabalu: The management of the popular Tanjung Aru beach here has denied prohibiting entry to parts to the beach, claiming it only restricted vehicle access to the Third Beach for safety and dirty water reasons.
This comes amid growing concerns from the public about the state of Third beach and questioning the access to it.
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Tanjung Aru Eco Development Sdn Bhd (TAED) chairman Tan Sri Pandikar Amin said that they have only cordoned off the area to vehicles but the public can still walk to the beach from the roadside.
“Despite the closure to vehicles, visitors can still access the Third Beach from First Beach and Second Beach, so what’s the fuss?”, he said in a statement here today.
He said that part of the reason for the closure was due to indiscriminate littering.
His statement comes following complaints from the public and interest groups relating to the closure of Third Beach as well as parking fees imposed.
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“We have explained time and again that TAED decided to block the entrance of the Third Beach upon consultation with and on the advice of the district police in order to control illicit activities as the place is pitch-black at night and to discourage public swimming due to very poor water quality, according to TAED’s EIA Consultant,” he said.
Pandikar said that the beach has been re-opened for public since November 2021 but visitors are not allowed to drive into the third beach area and have to park by the roadside which about 30 metres away from the beach.
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Parking along the roadside is free, unlike other designated sections closer to the beach which require an RM2 parking fee.
The entire Tanjung Aru beach is about a 2.5km stretch popular among city dwellers and visitors for its welcoming sandy beach and sunset.
Pandikar also said that the parking fees and rental income from TAED’s business is used to maintain and upkeep other sections of the beach which are more populated especially First beach and Prince Philip Park.
He said that they have plans to open campsite areas which will include centralised barbeque areas, basic kitchen facilities, washing and dining areas for campers and this is targeted to open in July 2023.
“However, TAEDSB has to cover shortfall in upkeep and maintenance expenditures. No less than 30 full time general workers have been hired to maintain the upkeep of the park including employees for grass-cutting, rubbish collection, basic landscaping, beach and drain cleaning, parking attendants and 24-hour security workers who also assist in the control of traffic during peak hours at the roundabout.
“Scheduled maintenance work and cleaning activities are carried out as early as 7:00am all the way till 4:00pm daily without fail with extra focus on the public’s favorite places within the Prince Philip Park, namely the beachfront and hawkers’ centre,” he said.
Pandikar, who is United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) president and a former Dewan Rakyat Speaker, said that the management was looking to install and upgrade the water supply and repair street lights at the beach which has been ruined over the years.
Pandikar argued that it was common practice to impose charges to entry to public places and national parks.
“TAED is only charging parking fees, and these collections are not for profit making at all but to help upkeep the Tanjung Aru public park in terms of cleanliness, security, provision and maintenance of public facilities, etc.
“Is it too much to ask visitors to pay parking fees? Nobody complains about paying parking fees when they go to a shopping mall, where they actually spend money?.
“We will continue our repairs and maintenance program as much as we can before development takes place. We welcome engagements with groups concerned with the redevelopment of Tanjung Aru in order to clarify matters” he said.
A slew of media reports targeting the government-linked company has sprung up again recently, claiming mismanagement, restriction of public access, and or parking charges.
The latest comes from Tanjung Aru Action Group (TAAG) who asked the management to open up the entire beach since the controversial plans for the prime located beachfront was first proposed in 2016 under the Barisan Nasional government.
The group’s spokesman Jan Chow said they inspected the beach recently and there was no sign of any development, while the site had been reduced to a "wasteland”.
They complained of the road closure to Third beach with signs “Temporarily Closed for Maintenance” put up by TAED’s management, “preventing” visitors from entering while at the same time being an "eyesore” due to the amount of rubbish collected, either washed ashore or left by visitors.
“There is not a single sign to tell the public about the proposed TAED project which among others should indicate the name of the developers, the architect, the main contractor, the date of commencement and completion of the project. This is required by the authorities,” said Chow.
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