KUCHING: This city must uphold its reputation as one of the world’s cleanest places by ensuring continuous maintenance of clean and healthy air in its environment.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said besides having clean air, Kuching also needs to prioritise physical cleanliness and practise sustainable urban development.
“This is an important fact in measuring the cleanliness of a city, that is, the air in our urban areas is clean without much carbon.
“That’s why our government is adopting an approach in terms of traffic flow and the use of vehicles for mobility,” said Abang Johari.
He said this during the Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) Hari Raya gathering held at UCSI Hotel here last night (May 3).
Earlier, Abang Johari congratulated both local authorities DBKU and Kuching South City Council (MBKS) for their achievement of Kuching being ranked as the 11th cleanest place in the world.
He cited examples from developed countries like Tokyo, Japan, where despite impressive infrastructure, air pollution remains a significant concern.
“Despite their beautiful buildings, from a health care perspective, they are exposed to more pollutants in the air.
“That’s why we must uphold this, thus Sarawak is the only state prioritising environmentally friendly fuels. That’s why we started with hydrogen.
“Our public transport is using cleaner fuels, and hopefully, we have a roadmap, where cars also use the cleanest fuel, either electric or hydrogen,” he said.
Elaborating further, Abang Johari said the state is now focusing on hydrogen fuel, adopting the utilisation of Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) to reduce air pollution caused by public transport.
“If that happens, our urban ecosystem will become truly clean in terms of air and physical aspects, so I hope DBKU and MBKS will communicate with our people about how important it is for us to have public transport that does not pollute the air. And this will further improve our ranking for the long term,” he said.
