Duty-free outlets among ideas for PD’s rejuvenation

PORT DICKSON: Duty-free outlets, rail transit services and wider roads are some of the demands residents are making to rejuvenate the beach town into a top tourist spot again.

Port Dickson Residents Association president Major (Rtd) A.S. Raj said outlets selling international brands could capture more tourists.

He also said that a KTM passenger train service, which stopped in the late 1970s, should be revived and a cruise service introduced.

Equally important, said Raj, is to widen the trunk road from here to the KL International Airport and KLIA2 to cut travel time for passengers to visit Port Dickson.

“We had cruise ships docking here some years ago but when the tourists disembarked, they had nowhere to visit because there just aren’t many interesting places.

“Similarly, hotels here thought they would benefit when the Formula One race was held in Sepang nearby. But one big hotel I know only received four guests,” he said in an interview.

“There should be a dual carriage- way right from Port Dickson to KLIA and Pasir Panjang,” he added.

Raj said the association raised these issues with the previous state government but nothing came out of it.

“Many things were supposed to rejuvenate Port Dickson but they didn’t take off,” he said, adding that among these were plans for an international hotel chain, a theme park and the country’s first land-toisland cable car service.

Raj also said there was no express bus service between the federal capital and Port Dickson.

“We used to have one but even that stopped. We need to ask ourselves why people aren’t coming.

“Does this mean that apart from the beaches, there is hardly anything in Port Dickson worth coming for?” he said.

Port Dickson, he added, has massive potential but the incoming MP needs to engage all stakeholders to make it a premier tourism destination.

He also expressed hope that the new MP could resolve the issue of abandoned buildings, some of which had been around for 20 years and had become eyesores along the beaches.

The people, he added, also need a full-fledged government hospital with specialist services as well as a crematorium and burial ground.