Nansian: Borneo Tribal Village ready by next year

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READY SOON: The ‘baruk’ (foreground) and longhouse at Borneo Tribal Village.

BAU: The Borneo Tribal Village homestay, located at Kampung Apar in Singai, Bau, will be fully operational and ready to welcome visitors by next year.

Community Services Assistant Minister Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie said the privately owned project will complement the nearby Redeems Bamboo Park.

“Once we popularise the homestay, more people will visit the Bamboo Park that is a community project.

“There is a longhouse with 14 rooms and a motel with four rooms. There is also a ‘baruk’ with a stage for performances, a dining and kitchen area as well as public toilets.

“The village homestay is about 80 per cent completed. The only things left are the landscape pond with bridge, campsite facility and general landscaping of the village.

“Basic amenities should be in by year end and it will be completed by next year,” he told reporters at the site yesterday.

Nansian, who is also Tasik Biru assemblyman, said the Borneo Tribal Village homestay project serves to preserve the Bidayuh culture and way of life.

“We are trying to preserve the traditional aspect of buildings, food and even plants.

“It is not so much about business but a way of cultural preservation, but, of course, visitors will be charged a nominal fee to cover operating costs,” he said.

The overall project sits on an 18-acre site, which was previously a ritual place for headhunters in the olden days.

“In a way it is also about giving back to the community, by turning the area into modern usage, instead of leaving the land idle.

“The Bamboo Park is not a forest of bamboos, but rather it consists of samples of all the different kinds of bamboo.

“We are even working with the Hopoh Association to build a Chinese bamboo garden in the Bamboo Park, which will surely boost tourism in the Singai area,” said Nansian, who is also Assistant Minister of Industrial Development (Industrial Estate Development).