RM5 million relocation of Bukit Mabong District Office to Tunoh in progress, says DCM

KAPIT: Works are underway to relocate Bukit Mabong District Office to Tunoh near here, which is on its way to become a fullfledged township.

In stating this, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing said the new premises for the District office would be a government’s guest house in Tunoh.

“The government has approved RM5 million for the works on the guesthouse to convert it into Bukit Mabong District Office, which is currently housed in Bletih State Complex in Kapit town.

“I have directed for the district office to be relocated to Bukit Mabong by October 2021.

“It is only rational that this district office be sited and run at its own place (Bukit Mabong), instead of being operated remotely from Kapit,” said Masing, who is also the Baleh assemblyman, in a statement.

However, the Deputy Chief Minister said this arrangement would only be temporary, as Bukit Mabong District Office would have its own permanent premises in the area in a few more years.

Masing recently conducted visits to Tunoh, Bukit Mabong and his constituency – accompanied by Pelagus assemblyman Wilson Nyabong Ijang, Bukit Mabong District officer Douglas Pungga and Kapit divisional engineer Bujang Kanang.

In February 2016, then-chief minister the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem declared Bukit Mabong, which covers the whole of Baleh state constituency as a new district in Sarawak; and Tunoh, as its administrative centre.

Located about 100km from Kapit town via logging road, Tunoh currently has a population of 5,000, while the whole of Bukit Mabong has over 20,000.

Tunoh was chosen as the district’s administrative centre in view of its strategic location, nestling amidst the 2,133m-high Hose Mountain that covers some 200,000 hectares of forest reserves and is filled with various eco-tourism attractions; and also the Baleh hydroelectricity power project, which is expected to come onstream with powergeneration capacity of 1,285MW, in 2026.

The soon-to-be-township also sits on 50,000 hectares of flatlands, suitable for commercial agriculture.

Masing (second right) in a group photo taken at the government’s guesthouse in Tunoh, which is being converted to accommodate Bukit Mabong District Office. With him are (from right) Nyabong, Douglas and Bujang.