KOTA KINABALU: PAM Sabah Chapter supports many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who are voicing their concern over the likely disappearance of the historical Prince Philip Park in the future.
Its chairman, Ar Victor Wong, who has just returned from Kuala Lumpur after the PAM Council meeting, urged the authorities to preserve the park rather than re-zoning for private development.
He was commenting on the Draft KK Local Plan 2020, in which Prince Philip Park has been re-zoned into HR, or Hotel and Resorts.
According to Wong, not many people realize that the park was named after his royal highness, Prince Philip who visited Jesselton, North Borneo then in the 1950s. Many traditional huts and atap huts were constructed for the occasion, with indigenous folks from all over North Borneo then, to welcome the prince in a big, big way.
“As a school boy, it was my first cultural shock to see the so many natives in their traditional costumes, not seen before!” he said.
“I used to walk along the beach from Tanjung Aru to the Petagas River in an hour or so during the weekends. The long stretch of sandy beach was nice and beautiful, and occasionally ponies with riders were seen galloping along the beach” he added.
“However, it was most regrettable and unfortunate that the fate of our beaches has suffered a double blow since then. The first was during the 1970s when the beach was divided into two stretches by the airport runway, to create sufficient length for the Boeing aircraft. Then in the 1980s, the construction of the Tanjung Aru Beach Hotel further divided the northern stretch into two. As a result it is no longer possible to walk along the whole stretch of the beach from north to south,” he added.
Wong further commented that Prince Philip Park has been bestowed with the best sunset scene in the whole of Malaysia, where one can see the setting sun sinking gracefully below the water in the horizon.
“This God-given phenomenon is priceless and unique to Prince Philip Park that we should appreciate and be proud of. Thousands of tourists, especially those from the heartland of China who have not seen the sea in their entire life, are often seen flocking to the Tanjung Aru beach, to watch the setting sun, to have their feet getting wet in shallow water, and simply to listen to the sounds of the waves.
“Should we allow private development to take over Prince Philip Park and deprive the majority of the public to witness the sensational happening in nature?” he asked.
Wong stressed that Prince Philip Park has already become an important contributing factor in the promotion of tourism in the State, and brings in foreign revenues and exchanges, making our economics more dynamic and vibrant. Rightly so, Kota Kinabalu should be accorded as a “Beach City”. This will be the envy of our neighboring state, Sarawak, where its capital Kuching is sited along the Kuching River, with no beach fronting the city.
“The entire length of our beach is only approximately 3km, and this is very short compared to the 14km of Miami Beach, Florida and 40km of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The double blow as stated earlier was already bad enough, and any further reduction in the length of our beaches will reflect poor city planning,” he said.
“We should not allow the Prince Philip Park to disappear under private development,” he emphasized strongly.
Wong was of the opinion that the public is not against the development of projects. What they object is the taking away of this historical and heritage site, and taking away of their access and free use of the facilities.
There are many beautiful beaches along the coast lines outside Kota Kinabalu, such as Karambunai, Tuaran and Kota Belud to the north, and Kinarut and Papar to the south. There was no fuss when the Karumbunai and Shangri-La Resort, Tuaran were developed many years ago. The question is why must private development be proposed and zoned over the Prince Philip Park when it has been in use by the Kota Kinabalu folks for so long?
“Ideally, the sandy beach must be preserved for the public for their enjoyment of the sand and the sea. Then a green belt parallel to the entire length of the beach should be provided, behind which shall be the service road for easy access by the public. Development projects can then be planned for all the lands behind the service roads. This is the basic concept of any beach city and if this can be planned, I do not see why the public will object,” he said.
“If these sites to the north and south are considered too far from Kota Kinabalu, then why not develop the Tanjung Aru Bahru, where there are hundreds of temporary houses built on stilts just to the north, and opposite the Sutera Harbour golf course? The development on this area will provide a golden opportunity for the government to reduce pollution in the area. Currently, it is a daunting task to clean up the area as debris and raw sewerage from those houses keep polluting the environment,” he said.
Wong is concerned over the proposed reclamation over the beach in trying to create a new beach outside the reclaimed area as shown in the proposed TAED development, and he does not think that it will work.
“Just look at Tanjung Aru Beach Hotel as a fine example. Much of the original beaches had been reclaimed and all that is ended up with today are retaining walls against the bombarding sea waves, and only a miserable short stretch of sandy beach has been created, which is mainly for the use by the hotel guests,” he said.
According to Wong, PAM Sabah Chapter has been advocating the concept of Liveable and Sustainable cities in its IPEX property exhibition which was just concluded on 4th May, while the Town Planning Department has also promoted the concept through its State Planning Conference 2013 with the theme “Journeying Together towards Liveable Cities in Sabah”.
“As we journey towards our future liveable cities of tomorrow, it is important that sufficient public spaces and facilities are created and provided through good city planning, to cater for our growing population and needs. The fundamental step is to preserve what we now have, as well to plan for our future requirement, to make our cities liveable and sustainable. Any action to the contrary will only jeopardize our effort in our vision for better cities. Therefore instead of taking away the existing, the Prince Philip Park in this case, we should create more parks for our future generations. What we need are clear visions of our objectives in promoting liveable and sustainable cities,” he said.