Artist’s impression of the man-made seahorse island located 800 metres from Brighton Beach.
MIRI: A man-made island, shaped like a seahorse, is one of the architectural wonders included in Taman Selera’s redevelopment master plan to transform Miri into an ultra modern recreational, shopping, dining, entertainment and residential area in the state.
Using Dubai as a blueprint for the redevelopment master plan, Episo Group of Company managing director Dato David Goh yesterday disclosed: “It will turn Miri into a prominent tourist destination, one befitting its status as Resort City. Through our subsidiary Raffles Lifestyle Development Sdn Bhd, we will create something almost similar to Dubai. We bring Dubai to this region.”
Located around 800 metres from Brighton Beach, the proposed island will incorporate recreational, commercial and residential areas. The development of the island is the third phase of the whole Taman Selera redevelopment master plan.
Meanwhile, the company has completed Phase 1 of the redevelopment.
“It took us two and-a-half years to complete the new concept of food court which we call the Food Bazaar. Incorporating green and environmentally-friendly, the design of the food court resembles a leaf with green as the main color scheme. Apart from that, we will also use LED lighting system not just for the food court but also the whole project,” he added.
The Food Bazaar will be a mixture of international western and oriental and local food outlets.
“We were issued with occupation permits on Nov 28. KFC and Pizza Hut have started operations on Nov 30 and some will start opening in one or three months’ time. An international chain restaurant – Angus Restaurant and Japanese food outlet Escapade – will be heading there too,” he explained.
The entire outlet has been fully rented out at the moment.
In keeping with the history and heritage of Taman Selera and honouring the hawkers who have been operating their stalls in the area for many years, Goh said: “We have invited and relocated all the 16 existing stall operators to operate with eight new operators in the Food Bazaar. It will be a new dining and entertaining destination for the people in Miri,” he added.