By Lian Cheng
SIBU, April 23: Will the May 9 meeting convene where finally due action is taken to move the existing RC Pontoon Wharf near Sibu Eng Ann Teng Tua Pek Kong Temple to give way to the construction of an extension of the Jetty Garden Park, which was approved in July 2010?
This is the hope of Sibu Eng Ann Teng Tua Pek Kong Temple Charitable Trust executive director Lau Kai Hua who is in charge of the extension project.
He said Deputy Minister of Transport Dato Henry Harry Jenip had visited the site yesterday and authorised Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng to undertake and make sure that the project will be completed as soon as possible.
“YB Joseph said he would call for a meeting of all related agencies including Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB), the Land and Survey Department, Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) and others, tentatively on May 9, to resolve the issue once and for all,” Lau told DayakDaily today.
Apart from Harry, Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin had also visited the site and agreed to move the structure to a nearby location.
The Charitable Trust managing the famous Sibu Eng Ann Teng Tua Pek Kong Temple has been waiting for the construction of the extension for more than a decade.
Lau, in a previous interview dated Jan 4, 2022, said that the extension was approved by the Sarawak Planning Authority (SPA) as early as 2010 and funds had been set aside to implement the project.
However, due to the existing RC Pontoon Wharf where the site is overlapping with the extension project, work has not been able to commence.
The project has been long overdue and multiple efforts and calls had been made to SRB to quickly move the pontoon concerned to give way to the extension project. But until now, nothing happened and the issue has yet to be resolved.
The temple trust, he added, has been waiting for more than a decade to get the extension of the park to be constructed, as Sibu Eng Ann Teng Tua Pek Kong Temple has been a tourist attraction for Sibu whereby tourists would visit while others go to pray every year.
The extension, which involves pavilions and a pier to be built above that part of the Rajang River and other planned structures, including an arch as well as other beautification features, he believed, will attract more tourists to Sibu. — DayakDaily
