Oxbow Lakes in Sabah

By Anna Vivienne

An oxbow lake is a type of lake which is formed when water meander from a stream or a river is to form a lake. They are called oxbow lakes due to the distinctive curved shape that results from this process.

The bulges in the border of the river made the river change its course, but when the river moved, the border didn’t.

When a river reaches a plain in its course to the sea or a lake, it meanders widely. Deposition occurs on the curved bank when the water slows down.

In contrast, both lateral erosion and undercutting occur on the concave bank where the stream’s velocity is the highest.

Continuous erosion of a concave bank and deposition on the convex bank of a meandering river cause the formation of a very pronounced meander with two concave banks getting closer.

The narrow neck of land between the two neighbouring concave banks is finally cut through by either lateral erosion of the two concave banks of the strong currents during a flood.

When this happens, a new straighter river channel is created and an abandoned meander loop, called a cutoff, is formed. When deposition finally seals off the cutoff from the river channel, an oxbow lake is formed.

To see how an oxbow lake looks like, visit the Kinabatangan River. There are 20 oxbow lakes there.

Some of the lakes, known locally as Danau is overgrown with water hyacinth.

If you are fond of bird watching these lakes are good places to be. You will be able to see darters, egrets and Kingfishers diving for fish in some of the lakes.

The Pesta Beliungan or River festival in Kinabatangan is usually held in one of the lakes, near Kg Bilit.

Courtesy of: New Sabah Times 'In' Sites - Sabah Travel and Leisure Guide

Master plan to upgrade Brunei international airport

By Za'im Zaini

Brunei is planning for an expansion and refurbishment or construction of a new passenger terminal to bring the international airport on par with world-class standards.

The government yesterday took the first step towards realising the vision of an airline hub with a signing ceremony between The Department of Civil Aviation under the Ministry of Communications and Petar Perunding Sdn Bhd for consultancy services for the airport master plan study. It was held at the Ministry of Communications Building.

Present to witness the signing ceremony was the Minister of Communications Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Abu Bakar Bin Haji Apong.

Signing on behalf of the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam was the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Dato Paduka Hj Md Yusof bin Hj Md Hassan, while signing on behalf of Petar Perunding Sdn Bhd was its Chairman Hj Sapawi bin Bolhassan.

The proposed facilities will have to be integrated with the existing infrastructure to make the airport world class, yet imparting the Bruneian identity while ensuring safe, secure and expeditious arrivals and departures of passengers and aircraft and an enjoyable experience.

The passenger and cargo terminals need to be expanded so as to cater for the traffic and to develop the Brunei International Airport as the leading regional air hub in the BIMP-EAGA region. Infrastructural development strategies to develop the airport as the leading regional air hub are focused on the following areas: Airline Hub, Airport City and Cargo Village.

The master plan study will also look into aircraft parking apron, associated roads, curb sides and car parks.

The consultant team comprises M/S Petar Perunding Sdn Bhd (Principal Consultant), M/S CPG Consultants PTE LTD (Airport Division), M/S Leading Edge Aviation Planning Professionals (Air Traffic Forecast), M/S SKM Singapore Consulting PTE LTD (Airport Security) and M/S Consulus Cato Partners (Branding Consultant).

The master plan study together with the conceptual design proposal is estimated to take eight months to complete.

The principal objective of the study is to produce a workable programme of priority improvements needed for the airport and to prepare a master plan for the airport's phased development, which is technically and financially feasible.

Brunei recorded 1.3 million passengers in 2005 and the airport is facing congestion during peak hours, hence the need to expand the facility.

The Brunei International Airport has undergone several major facelifts since its opening. It was upgraded in the mid 1980s and later in 2000 to handle more than two million passengers and 50,000 tonnes of cargo every year.

"No concrete decision has been made on whether to expand the airport or build a new terminal. We need to wait for the consultancy study to be completed to consider the number of options which will be short listed to be implemented for the development of the airport," said Director of Civil Aviation Pg Hj Abdul Rahman bin PSI Pg Hj Ismail in an interview with the Borneo Bulletin.

"Today's event is for the signing ceremony of an agreement for consultancy where the consultants (Principal Consultant) have been given the responsibility to conduct a study for the airport master plan, which will give the government an idea on how to develop the Brunei International Airport," he added.

The study will not only take into consideration the number of passengers arriving, departing and transiting but will also consider other issues such as people working at the airport, providing better facilities for agencies that provide services at the airport either through the public or private sector. Such efforts would ensure more passengers using the airport in the future and thereby realising the vision of making the Brunei International Airport as a regional hub, said the director.

During the event, Rohani bte Baharin Executive Vice President (Airport) of CPG Consultants Pte Ltd gave a presentation on the master plan study.

She gave a timeframe for the submission of reports. The preliminary report will be delivered in January 2008, interim report in March 2008, final draft report in May 2008 and final report in July 2008.

The study will assess and identify new services at the airport, develop business strategies for a commercially viable operation, assess and identify feasible private partnership projects, provide a world-class facility with effective and efficient operations.

The planning period will have a two-phase development programme.

Phase 1 will be the implementation from 2008 to 2012 and operational for the next 12 years, which is from 2012 to 2024. Phase 2 implementation will be from 2022 to 2024 and will be operational from 2024 to 2036.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Arrivals to Sabah up first 9 months

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah recorded about 1.7 million tourist arrivals for the first nine months this year - a 14.1 per cent increase compared to the corresponding period last year which saw 1.5 million arrivals.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun, said the good news from such increase was that the figure also includes domestic tourists.

At the same time, the number of foreign tourist arrivals also rose by 24.1 per cent for the period. "Of the overall 1.7m arrivals, about 700,000 were international ones which is very good and much better compared to last year.

"And those foreign tourists are quality ones as we have quite a number from Western Europe and Australia while the number of Taiwanese, Koreans and Hong Kong tourists have been always consistent," he said after opening the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) 40th Anniversary dinner for Sabah members, Saturday.

Continue reading at: Arrivals to Sabah up first 9 months

Islands, seafood luring Chinese tourists to Sabah

KUNMING: Sabah’s islands and abundant seafood are drawing more tourists from mainland China with the number visiting between January and August already surpassing that for the whole of last year.

Preliminary figures show that a total of 38,891 Chinese nationals came in the first eight months of the year compared with 32,268 for the whole of last year.

“Many Chinese tourists come especially during the three major week-long breaks in China, for the Chinese New Year, May labour and October national day holidays,” Sabah Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Karim Bujang said.

Continue reading at: Islands, seafood luring Chinese tourists to Sabah

Promoting tourism industry in BIMP-EAGA - Joint efforts needed

KUCHING: The best way to promote tourism industry in the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) is through joint-promotion efforts among tourism players in the region, said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud.

He pointed out that any tourism promotion should include air transport players, especially budget airlines such as Air Asia, Fire Fly (MAS) and Singapore Airlines.

He said this when officiating at the 3rd BIMP-EAGA Travel Exchange 2007 at Level 5, Permata Car Park here yesterday.

He said through joint-promotions, more tourists from countries such as the Middles East and Australia could be wooed to the region.

The Chief Minister was optimistic that such a strategy and formula would work well, as the peoples of the region shared a common culture and heritage.

“It is much easier to develop this cultural-theme in tourism, which is very much connected with eco-tourism,” he said.

Continue reading at: Promoting tourism industry in BIMP-EAGA - Joint efforts needed