Monday, February 01, 2010

Kota Kinabalu moves on as a city

KOTA Kinabalu has city reached a milestone this year as Sabah’s state capital by celebrating the 10th anniversary of its acquiring city status.

The city has indeed prospered after shedding its municipal status on Feb 2, 2000.

It now boasts a number of international five-star hotels and resorts, shopping malls and educational institutions.

For some Kota Kinabalu folk like businessman S.Y. Lee, the improvements are noticeable literally at ground level.

“Kota Kinabalu is cleaner and this makes a lot of difference as it is a more pleasant place to live in,” said Lee.

Not too long ago, the city folks were in despair about its state of cleanliness.

In the words of former City Hall director-general Datuk Dr Chua Kim Hing, it was a case of “rubbish, rubbish everywhere”.

He was referring to a time when litter-strewn bus terminals, road pavements, shorelines and sidewalks in front of shops in downtown Kota Kinabalu was a common sight.

Such was the state of the Sabah capital that when its status was elevated, then Chief Minister Datuk Osu Sukam said that a priority for the new city administration was to get Kota Kinabalu cleaned up.

The transformation to a cleaner city was gradual but picked up after former Sabah police commissioner Datuk Illiyas Ibrahim was named as the second mayor in 2006.

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