New Sibu Sports Centre raises stakes in March

0

Wong: UCTS to ‘inherit’ indoor stadium post-Sukma with an IT Library

Sibu’s Indoor Integrated Sports Centre in the making.

Sibu’s Indoor Integrated Sports Centre in the making.

Dato Sri Wong and John (fifth and sixth left) with others at the site of the proposed sports centre.

Dato Sri Wong and John (fifth and sixth left) with others at the site of the proposed sports centre.

SIBU: Sibu’s new Indoor Integrated Sports Centre will be completed before Sukma in July, and in a spinoff will make University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) an international university when it ‘inherits’ the first-class facilities.

The assurance of works completion came from Works Department regional manager John Atem, who added, “There was a slight delay in the RM39-million project, but works is expected to be completed in March. We will keep pushing the contractor to finish the project by February so that we can make early preparation for Sukma (July 22-31).”

He was speaking during a briefing on the progress at the project site yesterday. The project is 87.42 per cent completed.

Also present at the briefing were Second Finance Minister and Minister of Local Government and Community Development Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King, deputy SMC chairman Dato Andrew Wong, Public Works divisional engineer Tiong King Wei and project manager Huan Tuong Ying of Woodville Jaya Sdn Bhd.

Sibu will host two Sukma events, badminton and volleyball. The former will be held at the centre while the latter may be staged elsewhere.

The sports centre will house eight badminton courts, a basketball court, two volleyball courts, a two-lane jogging track and a grand-stand with a seating capacity of 4,250 people.

For parking bays, there are 479 for cars, 89 for motorcycles and 16 for stage coaches.

The fully air-conditioned centre will have telephone lines, a PA system, an electronic scoreboard, special lightings and so on.

Tiles for the jogging track are imported from Germany and the roofings from South Korea.

Meanwhile, Wong (Soon Koh) said the contractor had submitted a proposal to him to turn the sports centre into an integrated sports complex.

“They want to add an Olympic-size swimming pool just beside this stadium and with that this place could be turned into an Integrated Sports Complex. However, this is subjected to the approval of the state government,” Wong pointed out.

On the construction of an IT Library next to the stadium, Wong said work would start very soon.

He said the RM27-million project had been finalised and would be undertaken by the same contractor.

Wong said the indoor stadium and the IT Library would be part of the ground-breaking facilities for University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS).

“Eventually, the university would be turned into an international university and we hope to get students from all over the world to come to study here. It is my dream and it will come true,” Wong enthused.