Container City set to promote Miri as food haven, says Lee
MIRI: The establishment of Container City – Miri’s latest food court – offers a gastronomical array of local and foreign cuisines for food enthusiasts to benefit and help in an effort to promote the city as a food haven.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin said the establishment, appropriately located at North Yu Seng Road which is popular for being the food and tourism corridor here, would become another interesting attraction for tourists, especially food enthusiasts locally and abroad.
“This Container City incorporates the trendy idea of pop-up stores which has become very popular in major cities in the United Kingdom and Mexico.
“We are very happy that a group of young, very creative and innovative entrepreneurs have initiated this new concept here, turning this into another tourist attraction in Miri city,” Lee told The Borneo Post after officiating at the grand opening of Container City here on Monday.
Lee also challenged the five young co-partners to come up with a much bigger container city in the future.
“I hope to see a bigger container city to include retail, shopping, food and entertainment outlets in one place in future,” he enthused.
Sarawak United Peoples’ Party ( SUPP) secretary- general Datuk Sebastian Ting was also present.
“I really love this place as it is something very new here. It is wonderful that these young entrepreneurs had come together for this brilliant idea.
“They have done a great job in providing business opportunities and also to think of the things they should have or sell here,” said Ting.
Container City comprises 14 stalls constructed out of shipping containers which serves more than 120 types of foods. Apart from local food, there are also Korean, Thai and Taiwanese cuisines, with each stall offering something different.
“It is really admirable that this place has also managed to gather people from all races. They can sit down and eat together here and that shows how beautiful Sarawak is as we have total acceptance of each other,” Ting added.
Meanwhile, one of the directors of Container City, Kelvin Gom said it tookapproximatelysevenmonthsfor them to complete the project, which covers approximately 7,200 square feet and is able to accommodate up to 300 guests at one time.
“Container City is our pilot project and we are working on a few more of its kind in the near future.
“This is a hot spot where people from all walks of life would be able to enjoy food from different stalls. It is a place to shout about when promoting Miri as the Resort City,” said Gom, adding that he and his team of directors were inspired to come up with the idea to have Container City here after travelling to various parts of the world.
Gom also revealed they are looking into coming up with a much bigger container city.
“We are looking into the direction of having different themes for our many other ‘container cities’ in the future, for example ‘ The Gardens Container City’, emphasising on its decoration and outlook,” he said.
Container City opens daily from 7.30am to 11pm, with time extension on weekends.