LAWAS: A special committee known as Highland Development Agency or HDA has been formed for the Lawas Parliamentary constituency.
A meeting to form the committee was chaired by Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Dato Henry Sum Agong at Hotel Seri Malaysia here.
Henry Sum who is also Member of Parliament for Lawas wanted to ensure that HDA is able to bring development in the form of infrastructure, electricity and clean water supply to residents in the rural areas especially in the highlands.
He also wanted the Lawas Disitrct Office to become the secretariat for the special committee although during the meeting no representative from Lawas District Office was present.
During the meeting Henry outlined the upgrading of the road from Lawas to Ba’Kelalan as top priority and wanted a study to be conducted to build a new road to link Miri Division to Limbang and Lawas Districts via the highlands along the present gas pipe line.
Also agreed upon at the meeting was the construction of the Trusan Hydro Electric Dam which can supply electricity and clean water to areas in the Lawas Parliamentary constituency and the Rural Growth Centre (RGC) for Ba’Kelalan in Long Semadoh.
For Lawas area, Henry Sum stressed that a new airport and Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) needed to be built to ensure continued economic growth and technical education in the district.
The economic sector here includes tourism activities at Mount Murud, Maga Wet Land, Merarap Hot Springs, kayaking on Batang Trusan and Pa’puti Waterfall.
Commercial farming which involved buffaloes, cattle and goats are also listed for B’a Kelalan, Long Semadah, Long Sukang and Trusan to meet demands for halal meat via Brunei and the global market.
Henry Sum also wanted to see the planting of Adan rice on a large scale so that the rice can become a trademark for Lawas.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Special Envoy to Romania, Mutang Tagal who was present hoped that that the committee can come up with a long term master plan for the HDA in line with the efforts of the nation and state leadership.
Also present were Barry Baru, Temenggong Kading Silo, Pemanca Semuel Bie, local community leaders and representatives from the Lun Bawang community in the highlands and Trusan areas.
