BARIO: The Bario Highlands should be upgraded to sub-district status as it is now a well-known tourist destination.
A Kelabit couple is seen in front of the e-Bario centre.
Councillor John Terawe said the change in the status would bring in more funding to continue developing the highlands.
“Most of the basic facilities are there but they need to be improved and upgraded. For instance, we still do not have proper treated water supply and our electricity supply depends very much on our own generators.
“The Bario Airport should also be upgraded to enable it to accommodate bigger aircraft,” he told the BAT IV Team here yesterday.
Currently the Bario Airport is only able to accommodate the 19-seater Twin Otter.
John, who is a pioneer of the e-Bario project, said an upgrade would also benefit the mostly Kelabit people and the tourism industry.
“I am confident that we are now on the right track to be more developed in the next five years, especially in terms of basic infrastructure here in the highlands,” he said.
Currently, there are already many important government agencies here such as the rural health clinic, primary and secondary schools, police, immigration, agriculture and the army.
“e-Bario has put us on the world map as it has been adopted as a model for community mobility by the UN (United Nations). So with the supporting infrastructure being put in place in the near future, Bario would become an even more popular tourist destination worldwide,” he said.
Besides being a Marudi District Council councillor for four terms, John is also a fellow at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) consultant on community mobility and the Heart of Borneo project, e-Bario chief executive officer and Forum Masyarakat Adat Dataran-Dataran Tinggi Bario (Formadat) secretary general.
“I have been invited as a consultant on various areas, and I have been to many countries worldwide, but it’s the e-Bario that has created the spark way back in 1998, when we started the project,” he said.
“Now, through the e-Bario, the Kelabit community has been recognised as one of the top seven most intelligent communities in the world by the World Teleport Association.”
He was also instrumental in promoting Kelabit food and culture when he initiated the raw food festival nine years ago.
“Now the Bario Food and Culture Festival has become the geocentre of the Kelabits. It has proven itself to be one of the events in state tourism calendar which has been getting greater momentum annually,” he said.