STAR upbeat on Tuaran changing with Hajiji as CM
TUARAN: The STAR division here is fully confident that Tuaran will undergo tremendous development under new chief minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Hj Noor.
The STAR P170 Paliament constituenct co-ordinator, Edward Linggu, expressed his excitement that the chief minister had announced the plan to widen the Berungis-Tuaran town road here, which he said has been a major concern in Tuaran for decades now.
“The stretch has been promised to be widened under previous state governments, all the way since the Berjaya government,” said Linggu.
“But somehow the project failed to be implemented.
“Now with the amount of traffic flowing over this stretch, the need to widen it has become really obvious. It is part of Sabah's most important highways, where much greater number of vehicles are plying it from and to the northern towns, going to the cities around the state capital,” he added.
“It simply doesn't make sense that the two-lane traffic from Kota Kinabalu gets into a tight bottle neck at the Berungis roundabout, causing serious congestion all day long on a daily basis. And everyday several kilometres of jammed traffic flow is seen from Tuaran town heading to the Mengkabung roundabout."
Linggu, who is the former assemblyman for Tamparuli, is confident that now with Sabah's new chief minister hailing from Tuaran for the first time in history, the longstanding issue will finally be resolved, along with other infrastructural problems which have long been issues in Tuaran. These, he said, include the need to widen the road from Tuaran to Tenghilan in view of the increased road traffic.
“Tuaran is no longer a backwater town. It is now a bustling city with a much increased population and visitors, hence needing new townships and improved facilities,” Linggu said.
“The district also has several major resorts, tourist attractions, and yet many facilities are sadly antiquated."
He said the district is now much more empowered with the Tamparuli assemblyman, Datuk Jahid Jahim, appointed the Minister of Rural Development and the Kiulu assembyman, Datuk Joniston Bangkuai being the State Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, both of whom bode well for Tuaran's rural and further tourism development.
“We desperately need a new post office to replace the small pre-independence, colonial-days' one still operating and hardly able to bear with the heavy load of customers on a daily basis. The situation is so bad locals have long called it a ‘pejabat pos kandang kuda' (horse stable post office),” he mused.
“We are in dire need of a modern, sparkling new post office with ample space and service counters at a new location to accommodate the much increased needs of local customers.
“Along with this is the daily long queues at the Road Transport Department (JPJ) office. And it is the same at all the banks, the worst being at BSN which is used as a financial channel by the government for the people.
“I also strongly propose that a multi-storey one-stop centre be built in Tuaran where the people from here and the neighbouring towns such as Kota Belud, Tenghilan, Tamparuli and Kiulu can come to process their government-related official processings,” Linggu stressed.
“Of course not all these problems in Tuaran are under the direct purview of the chief minister as some are federal administrative matters,” Linggu admitted.
“However, we are confident the chief minister who is also the assemblyman of Sulaman here, having shown his dynamic and visionary leadership, will speak for us while keeping a close eye on Tuaran needs and bring significant changes soon.
“We in Tuaran STAR, stand with support and confidence in him, and stand solidly behind him as the chief minister and our local leader,” Linggu concluded.