Lau tells developers to learn from Sibu Jaya’s success
SIBU: Developers should take a page from Sibu Jaya Township’s orderly development and excellent town planning, said Sibu Rural District Council ( SRDC) deputy chairman Robert Lau Hui Yew.
“You can see that the whole township is planned excellently, with orderly roads, beautiful trees, as well as neat residential and commercial zones.
“It is important for developers and new townships alike to emulate this formula, which is good for the residents,” he said when officiating at the council’s tree planting ceremony in Sibu Jaya yesterday.
One hundred trees were planted as part of SRDC’s Local Agenda 21 ( LA21) programme. Adding on, Lau said the era of taking things from Mother Nature without needing to give anything back was over.
“We can no longer take and take without expecting to pay a price. It is upon this generation to start giving back to Mother Nature (to compensate) what the previous generations had taken. We owe this to the next generations,” he pointed out.
Lau highlighted that SRDC was serious about the environment and public health, just as much as issues on economy, infrastructure and good governance – in short, everything that affected the people.
“We are doing this tree planting with the support of Sibu Jaya’s developer Distrepark Sdn Bhd which has been actively planting around 3,500 trees over the last three years other than the existing trees that have been planted since the township’s establishment more than 20 years ago,” he said.
The Sibu Jaya township has won two awards so far – one for excellent planning and another for best residential development for its Pearl Avenue units.
On another matter related to the township, Lau said the public should not misconstrue SRDC’s preparations for the eventuality of imposing parking fees in areas under its jurisdiction.
“We are preparing for the future. This will not be imposed immediately because it will take many years before it could come into being. But as a visionary council, we must plan ahead so that future councillors would be in a better footing to implement it at a time when it is needed,” he assured the people.
On traffic flow at the township, he said upon his appointment he had already visited the developer’s office with the council’s engineer and they had worked out a master plan of the road network.
“We are studying this matter very thoroughly to ensure that it would benefit everyone – from the road users to the business operators,” he said, adding that the township could see certain sections be turned into one-way streets next year.