Call for overhead bridge from Imago mall to hotel
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) yesterday urged the relevant authority to build an overhead pedestrian bridge or pedestrian crossing underneath the existing flyover to provide a safe passage from Imago shopping mall to Ming Garden Hotel.
Its president, Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, said the pedestrian bridge or crosswalk would ensure people could cross the road safely from one side to the other, given the number of accidents involving pedestrians on the Coastal Highway.
He said that in response to the incident of a tourist, Jia Liuzhen, 70, who was hit by a motorcyle while crossing the Coastal Highway with her friends to the Imago shopping mall on Tuesday night.
Liaw said tourists were sometimes seen crossing the road with baby strollers without any fear of their safety as vehicles sped past them at 70 to 80 kilometres per hour.
“This is extremely dangerous to the pedestrians.”
He urged the new Mayor Datuk Nordin Siman to take immediate action to resolve the issue as it was a matter of life and death that could affect the image of the city.
“If the government was able to build a multi-storey KK Sentral worth tons of money and let the building sit there for more than two years without operation, why can’t they build a bridge which costs much less for the safety of tourists?”
Liaw also suggested the management of Ming Garden Hotel to provide free shuttle service to ferry their guests, mostly Chinese and Korean tourists, from the hotel to Imago shopping mall and back at 15 minutes’ intervals as a temporary measure.