SMC is evolving a master plan to cater for the needs of the student population, hence to transform the area between Datuk Teng Chin Hua Road where three educational institutions are located right down to Sungei Merah.
Dato Andrew Wong
SIBU: Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) is drawing up a master plan to transform the area between Datuk Teng Chin Hua Road where three educational institutions are located right down to Sungei Merah.
Its deputy chairman, Dato Andrew Wong, said this would entail better logistics, roads, pedestrian walks, bicycle lanes and security as well as safety aspects.
Once put in place, these would cater to the needs of the growing student population at University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS), Kolei Laila Taib (KLT) and Woodlands International School, he added.
He believed the area would become the educational hub for Sibu.
“I would say the three educational institutions have one of the best infrastructural facilities in Malaysia.
“Our vision is that since we have a fantastic university, the council has to complement the efforts to ensure Sibu, or at least the critical areas, is improved.
“This is because if the council does not complement, this university will not be able to realise its full potential in attracting international students or those from elsewhere in Sarawak or Malaysia for that matter.
“So, we are trying to come up with this master plan based on turning that particular area to cater for the needs of students,” Wong told The Borneo Post.
Towards that end, input from these three institutions would be sought and incorporated into the proposed master plan, he pointed out.
Asked on improvement of traffic flow in the vicinity of Sibu Gateway, he noted there were too many road branches.
He said there had been some suggestions from the public to reduce the number of traffic-light intersections.
“While this may be good in theory but practical-wise, this would mean diverting a lot of continuous traffic into the same bottleneck,” he opined.
As for suggestions from certain quarters for a flyover, he said there was no sufficient road reserve.
The existing traffic system made it an uphill task to resolve the traffic congestion at the gateway during peak hours, he noted.
“In order to change the traffic flow at Sibu Gateway, we may have to change the entire traffic flow within central business district (CBD) areas and this is a massive exercise.
“So, it is something we have to handle with care,” Wong said.
He said if the pilot project incorporating a new traffic monitoring system to be implemented at Ling Kai Cheng Road here to ease traffic congestion came to fruition, it would be extended to the gateway and the area near SMK Sacred Heart.