Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Tourism plan for Gaya Island

By JENNE LAJIUN

KOTA KINABALU: Plans are afoot to make Pulau Gaya another tourist spot in Sabah.

Putatan MP Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh said the federal government was planning to develop the island for tourism under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

Presently, he said the island was not attractive for promotion by tourism operators.

“The island has historical values that might prove attractive to tourists. It was once the hiding place of Mat Salleh, our famous warrior who fought the British in the late 1800s,” he said.

“He burned down the little town built on the island in 1878,” he added.

Dr Marcus visited Pulau Gaya with the Sabah Federal Development director Dato Ismail Haji Wadin and City Hall’s development department director, Alijus Haji Sipil.

They were shown the site where the town once stood.

According to him, a memorial could be built at the site to showcase the historical photographs and artefacts to lure tourists.

“The Mat Salleh historical sites elsewhere in the state had attracted a lot of tourists and I think the one on the island can attract tourists as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, Alijus said City Hall has received RM$1 million from the state government to install a garbage disposal system on the island.

He also said the island’s plan, which included housing lots and a road system (50 kilometres in length) to connect all the villages was already completed.

“But we are still studying the cost to implement the plan,” he said

Courtesy of New Sabah Times

No comments: