KUCHING: The Wetland Waterfront project to be constructed in Batu Kawa is set to complete its first phase by April 2020. The project was previously committed by the Barisan Nasional federal government but was plagued by uncertainties amidst the sweeping changes in Putrajaya after the 14th general election.
Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) secretary Elizabeth Loh revealed that the project was still ongoing and that design works were also ongoing.
“We are in the design stage now and we expect it to go to the tender process in the next one or two months,” she told reporters when met after a press conference at MPP office here yesterday.
She disclosed that the second phase of the project would involve land acquisition and that the first two phases were funded fully by the state government.
“Phase one of the project is estimated to cost RM5 million and the second phase of the project is RM2.8 million.”
MPP deputy chairman Datuk Ahmad Ibrahim, who was also present with Loh, added that the project was a pledge by the federal government but disclosed that the state government had to step in to fund the project instead.
“We’ll see how it will be,” he said when pressed on whether a resolution had been reached between the federal government and the state government on seeing the project to the end.
Last June, during the launch and earth-breaking of the project, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg vowed to continue the project and allocated a RM5 million fund for the first phase of the project.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian, who was present with him at the time, said the waterfront was going to be a landmark not just for Batu Kawa but also Kuching.
