KUCHING: The RM8 million Bung Bratak Heritage Centre (BBHC) project will finally get off the ground with its launch on Saturday by Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Deputy Minister Anthony Nogeh Gumbek.
Bung Bratak Heritage Association (BBHA) chairman Datuk Peter Minos said the launch would be held at Kampung Tembawang Sauh off Bau-Lundu Road at 2 pm.
He said the centre, to be built 1,000 feet high up the top of Bung Bratak (Mount Bratak) is fully financed by the federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture and implemented by the Sarawak Public Works Department.
“The BBHA which represents 33 Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh villages in Bau and Lundu District of over 30,000 people, has long wanted to set up the BBHC to honour and perpetuate the history and heritage of Bung Bratak, the original and ancient ancestral home of the Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuhs,” said Minos.
He said the project would transform the scenic 1,000 feet Bung Bratak’s two waterfalls, two spring water holes, forest, plants and faunas and other natural features into a tourist spot.
“It will also be a centre for research on Bidayuh culture, customs and traditions, arts and artifacts, traditional dances and music and on the natural things and environment found on Bung Bratak,” he said.
He said the 20-hectare site for BBHC which was formerly NCR land belonging to the Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh living around Bung Bratak, was approved by the Land and Survey Department.
The Bau District Council then assigned it to BBHA by way of an agreement, he added.
Once completed, the centre would have two traditional longhouses, one for accommodation of up to 100 guests and one for a big conference hall, function rooms, an office and a mini museum.
“There will be a big ‘baruk’ (traditional roundhouse) and a separate dining hall and kitchen, thus BBHC can be used for conferences and seminars, as well as for cultural and other functions,” Minos said. -BERNAMA