DBKU to work closely with local folks in rejuvenating Kuching’s Main Bazaar areas
The Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) has pledged to work closely with the local community in efforts to rejuvenate the Main Bazaar areas in the city centre.
Datuk Bandar Hilmy Othman said they would engage locals, whether community leaders or representatives of communitybased organisations, for input to further develop the areas including the historical Kai Joo Lane and Carpenter Street.
“It is our intention as the city hall responsible for this area to be on the ground and hearing what the people’s aspirations are.
“We want to see how they want the streets to be. They have given us very good input, especially overlooked areas such as the Open Air Market and Carpenter Street,” he said during a meeting with the locals here yesterday.
Hilmy said while DBKU had not looked into further development for the aforementioned locations, it would consider including these areas in its future development plans.
Among those present at the meeting yesterday were Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Padungan branch chairperson Datuk Lily Yong and DBKU commission member Sih Hua Tong.
On the meeting, Hilmy described it as ‘fruitful’ and said similar discussions would be called in the near future.
“It will be an ongoing discussion and we will engage the people, especially local representatives and community leaders.
“This will be a good start. Even though Chinese New Year is just around the corner, we can feel the celebration already,” he said.
Hilmy said he looked forward to working with the local community, non-government organisations (NGOs) and community leaders to develop the Main Bazaar and Kuching Waterfront areas.
“Hopefully, the ‘Year of the Dragon’ would help make this part of Kuching to be more vibrant and developed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Yong said the meeting with Hilmy, who was sworn in as Datuk Bandar in September last year, marked a good beginning for the ‘Year of the Dragon’.
“With a new Datuk Bandar here, we are looking forward to a good beginning and we look forward to more development in this area.
“We feel this area has been conveniently left out of a lot of development, and we feel ‘sayang’ (pity) because it’s in the centre of the capital city,” she said.
Yong also hailed Hilmy as ‘an open-minded leader’ and the local Chinese community would look forward to his contributions to the development of the main bazaar areas.
“Of course we will work together with the government. Together we will do more for the people,” she added.