Call to make KK a liveable city for people

KOTA KINABALU: If Sabah, especially Kota Kinabalu, is to be developed into a beautiful international city like Singapore and Dubai, more efforts is needed to make the city greener and open up more public spaces.

DAP Luyang coordinator Phoong Jin Zhe said this yesterday, in response to Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman’s recent statement pointing out that he has made major plans to develop Sabah into Singapore and Dubai standards through various transformation programs, including the controversial Tanjung Aru Eco Development (TAED).

On the contrary, Phoong said we now see public spaces becoming increasingly invisible in Kota Kinabalu. Instead, more large and luxury hotels are being built in the city.

Using TAED as an example, he said although the area covers more than 300 hectares of land and 70 percent of the lots include a golf course, most of the citizens would not benefit from the development. Only a small number of rich people can afford to pay and enjoy the facilities.

“Suffice to say, it is totally incomparable with Singapore. Singapore’s Garden by the Bay alone has 101 hectares of large gardens and most of the facilities are free to the public. If Musa Aman wants to have equal public space standards as in Singapore, he needs to learn how Singapore respects green spaces and how the city state advocates the spirit of public space.

“In the case of Prince Philip Park in Tanjung Aru, its area has doubled but there are only 12 hectares of land, which account for less than 10 percent of the total planned area. The other park in Tanjung Aru only has 30 hectares. It simply does not make sense as the golf course accounts for one third of the entire plan, which is about 130 hectares!” he explained.