An artist’s impression of the new market.
A graphic rendering of the new bus terminal.
KANOWIT: This town will have two new landmarks when the new bus terminal and a market are completed next year.
Assistant Minister of Land Development Datuk Gramong Juna said the projects were good signs that this town was gradually expanding.
“Like other small towns in the state, Kanowit is not left far behind in terms of development.
“People can see for themselves how we have progressed quite well since Independence,” he said when officiating at the earth-breaking ceremony for the projects at Bungalow Road here yesterday.
Gramong, who is Machan assemblyman, said when Malaysia came into being in 1963, the district had no road at all — only bicycle trails.
He said the government slowly brought in development where in the 1980s, this district was finally connected with Kuching and Sibu via ferry service, initially.
“Later, the government allocated funds to build Durin Bridge and now it is very convenient to get to Sibu from Kanowit, which will see more developments coming up when the Kapit-Sibu Road is completed by mid-2017,” he said.
He said the people should appreciate the little things that they already had.
“Things do not come all of a sudden. We have to have planning, hard work and cooperation of everybody,” he said.
The market costs RM2.5 million to build, while the bus terminal, RM1.12 million.
The market, incorporating longhouse design, would be able to accommodate 77 stalls while the bus terminal would have a modern design, Gramong said.
He said that works on the bus terminal and market should be completed by June and August next year, respectively.
He also said that the old government quarters at Bungalow Road facing the Rajang River would be demolished to allow more development projects to be built in the area.
Sibu Resident Sim Kok Kee, Kanowit District Council chairman Katis Noel Nyabong, a political secretary to the chief minister Maurice Giri, Kanowit police chief DSP Ismail Mahmud and Kanowit Information Department head Wan Mohd Zuki Wan Ismail were among those present.