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Padawan Municipal Council celebrates 15th anniversary tomorrow

FOR THE PEOPLE: PMC chairman Lo (fifth from left) at the council’s fourth annual open house celebration in Kota Padawan.

FOR the casual Kuchingite commuter, the signboards that dot Kuching-Serian Road out of town can read like a travel brochure – Annah Rais Hot Springs, Borneo Highland Resort, Kubah National Park.

At first glance, it’s obvious these jewels of the Padawan area are an appealing enough getaway for both locals and foreigners alike. What isn’t immediately obvious is that besides natural greenery, the Padawan Municipal Council (PMC), one of the three municipalities that make up the greater Kuching city area, spans 1,431.82 sq km and includes Matang Jaya, Batu Kawa, Kota Sentosa, Siburan and Bidayuh villages, making it a unique combination of urban dwellings, commercial centres, semi-rural and rural areas.

Tomorrow (Aug 1), PMC celebrates its 15th anniversary since it was officially upgraded to municipality status on Aug 1, 1996. The Council was first known as the Kuching Rural District Council (KRDC) and initiated in the late 1956 under the Local Authority Ordinance 1948 (Cap 117). It commenced on January 1, 1957.

Initially, KRDC started off with an area of jurisdiction of 2,432.01 sq km. Since then, it has undergone a series of redelineation exercises. In 1985 and 1987, a part of the Council’s area was taken over by the Samarahan District Council. In 1989, the Council’s administrative area was again reduced to 1,431.82 sq km due to the establishment of the Kuching North City Commission and the extension of the area of the two Kuching City Councils in 1992.

Despite these redelineation exercises, PMC today still has a big area of jurisdiction compared to the Kuching City Councils and a majority of the other councils in Sarawak. The challenge of admistrating PMC currently falls to its 17th chairman, Lo Khere Chiang.

It’s been a year since he was sworn in as chairman last June. And during that time,  he has learnt many things about the municipality and its residents. Despite an abundance of natural resources, the distance between growth centres like MJC and Kota Sentosa and the challenging topogpraphy makes uniform growth and connectivity challenging for the Council.

Besides financial, administrative and human resource constraints, rapid development in these areas has increased the likelihood of flash floods – a problem the residents face every year.

But it’s something Lo is striving to fix in the only way he knows how – thoroughly.

For this SUPP Kota Sentosa branch secretary, fairness, transparency and competency are his main watchwords.

“What is close to my heart is the fact that we come into this world empty-handed, but we leave a legacy behind,” said the articulate, soft-spoken Lo in an interview for the upcoming anniversary.

Q: What have been the challenges for you at the helm so far?
A: I have personally learnt a lot. When I first came in, I needed time to pick up from my predecessor but since then, I have amassed a bit of info about the expectations of our people. At this moment, the people’s biggest expectations are for better infrastructure facilities – better roads, better drainage, better collection of rubbish. Although the rubbish collection company does its best with what it has, we have a population of 306,000 people – half that of Kuching City – and they’re all spread out. The distance between developments in this municipality means extra time and money.

Q: I understand there have been flash flood problems in the area. What is the cause and what is PMC doing to prevent it?
A: This is a situation that’s very close to the heart of the people as it floods every year. Over the past 30 years, we’ve seen an increase from 20,000 holdings to 60,000 properties. With developmental growth, the process of filling up the land has reduced the natural water retention time and led to these flash floods. This situation requires a lot of planning and is something we cannot solve on an ad hoc basis.
Our drains to the river are blocked because they’re small. Besides, Matang and Batu Kawa make up two-thirds of PMC which also rests on peat soil. These soil conditions lead to the flooding problem as drains collapse after a few years but it can be solved. Drains can still be built through peat soil but it’s expensive.
First, we need a team of professional consultants to carry out a study of the area. Because there are so many housing estates, we have to identify where we are going to put the drains. We may have to acquire properties and bulldoze through existing properties. Since water moves downward after rain or irrigation, drains can’t zigzag across properties, otherwise there will be a backflow of water.
This all requires teamwork, cooperation with higher authorities, a professional consultancy team and the support of the state and federal governments.
In the coming years, I see myself going up to state and federal government ministers to enlighten them on the problem and acquire funds from them to do it.

Q: Besides providing better infrastructures, what is your long-term vision for the Padawan area?
A: The thrust of PMC’s direction is in the development of liveable cities which requires economic generators like our tourism potentials, health facilities, adequate water supply, managing inner city transport, handling of the urban poor and green issues.
From the perspective of food safety and general hygiene, the food outlets are monitored quite closely. We carry out inspection of licensed food premises together with the Divisional Health Office and assign our grading systems accordingly. Recently, we called in 30 shopowners whose premises were below par.
Of course there’s a lot of room for improvement in terms of toilets inside the coffeeshops – it’s a work in progress. We are encouraging people to be cleaner, more respectable. This is one aspect whereby we can build livable, clean cities.
After achieving these milestones, we can look to expanding on education, culture and heritage. As we become more developed, we can talk about pedestrianisation of these areas.

Q: With such a wide municipality, how are you going to improve the living standards of the rural areas?
A: Tourism is an income generator for the locals that will help contribute to their income. We can capitalise on these tourist spots and the locals can benefit from the inflow of tourist traffic by opening food outlets, arranging homestays, becoming tour guides or even owning and operating kayaking facilities already available in these areas.
Padawan is rich in natural caves that can be explored. Currently, we are hoping to continue improving our Hot Springs. As it is, we already have changing rooms installed, which, in turn, have attracted local tourists because Kuching doesn’t have these kinds of natural features.
Kuchingites like to go to the streams, and the streams here are crystal clear. We also have rafting facilities in Kampung Danu and kayaking in this area.
As it is, the entrance fees already go to the JKKK which look after the community in that area.
In years to come, we would like to assist and promote this tourism sector. I believe we can bring in money and improve the living standards of the people in the Padawan area. I believe when people are well off and have enough to eat, our crime rates will go down. We are also taking about bicycle tracks. We thought that it would be very interesting for people to travel all the way to Borneo Heights.

Q: Besides tourism, what other income-generators are making people from Kuching central gravitate towards your municipality and how are you alleviating the consequences of rapid urbanisation?
A: Besides Samarahan, we are a fast-growing municipality – at five to six per cent per year when it comes to property. With urban people moving here, we need to buckle up and ensure people are getting more from us than other councils.
We also want to develop our industrial estate along the Bau and Batu Kitang road reserved for industrial development. So far, the developers have sold out almost all their lots. There’s a lot of demand. Most of them are SME operators.
Workers from the kampungs who come to work in these plants are also provided places to live at the moment. A lot of them are working in the MBKS and DBKU areas but if we provide them with more incentives on our side, then we will have them returning here.
We are also focusing on the entertainment aspect. Several people have already applied for hotel licences. With this rapid urbanisation and influx of people, we are collaborating with AZAM and various other agencies to work with families living in Sarawak Housing Development Corporation (HDC) properties.
Through the Neighbours Dialogue Programme, we hope to open dialogues with the residents, increase awareness on safety and healthy lifestyles as well as encouraging them to maintain the conditions of their buildings.
This way, they can resell them at a decent price and acquire enough money to move out and live comfortably. This, in turn, will make way for new residents in need of low-cost dwellings.

Q: How does the Council intend to stay relevant as a municipality since it will be celebrating its 15th anniversary this year?
A: We would like to decentralise the way we handle the Council. We have Bidayuh, Iban, Malay and Chinese communities and with our Residential Councillors Systems implemented last year, we have councillors assigned to every zone and area to oversee the needs of the respective communities.
For ourselves, the satisfaction of getting something done is evident in our efforts – fairness in our tender systems and putting the right person in the right job.
It takes the strong to help and protect the weak. Competency is a very important aspect for any organisation. Everywhere I go I try to instill this.