KUCHING: The new Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) headquarters is only a component of a carefully designed development that falls under a new town planning initiative, which will ultimately provide long-term benefits to the people.
Its chairman Lo Khere Chiang said the 20-acre land near the Agriculture Research Centre in Semenggok will be developed with a focus on long-term planning.
“It is going to be not just a new building for the staff and administration, but there will be a comprehensive development plan that includes a huge park, water retention facilities, public amenities and a new road,” said Lo.
“As the place gets developed, at least there is a park in the centre of this development. Sometimes as we develop we tend to forget about open spaces, which often results in a concrete jungle, similar to what is seen in Kuala Lumpur,” Lo said, highlighting the importance of planning to create green spaces, citing examples such as St James’s Park in London and Central Park in New York.
In addition to the park, the development will also include an auditorium and a hall that will be available for use by the local community, including schools.
“Many times, our schools want to hold end of year graduation ceremonies, they don’t have conducive venues. This is going to be a place where all schools can hold their graduation in a conducive environment,” said Lo.
The development will also feature landscaping and water retention facilities.
Lo, who is also the Batu Kitang assemblyman, stressed the importance of retaining natural features such as the 12th Mile area.
“We need a huge area to retain water, either through underground construction or open space, to prevent flash flooding from occurring.”
The 12th Mile area, being a low-lying area and a natural retention pond, is a prime example of such natural features that need to be preserved.
The development will also link up with the Semenggok Wildlife Centre and an international school, and a new road will be built from Semenggok to Kuching-Serian highway in order to reduce traffic congestion.
“We will bring them out to the Kuching-Serian highway with this new road opening. Everybody doesn’t have to congest at the 10th Mile in order to get into the highway,” added Lo.
“So all this will come in, a well planned development. An entire town planning. We need good town planning,” Lo added.
Yesterday (Feb 19), he was the guest of honour and distributed 600 vegetarian packed foods to traders at the 3rd Mile wet market.
The food was provided through the Hare Krishna Food For Life programme initiative by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which is aimed at giving back to the community.
