Keep the iconic Tanjung Aru Beach intact without TAED and massive reclamation

Keep the iconic Tanjung Aru Beach intact without TAED and massive reclamation

Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman said in his recent Rotary Lecture that the Tanjung Aru Eco Development (TAED), a 348-hectare integrated beachfront development in Tanjung Aru, was envisioned to be well-positioned to benefit the economy, community and environment.

“To create a sustainable development like no other in the region, TAED needs to be, not only economically viable but also socially and environmentally acceptable.”

By specifically developing TAED with low-impact residential, hotel and commercial properties, he said, the State government would not only be able to raise the necessary funds for construction, but also to finance the maintenance of all public areas within the development, including the new beach and park.

“There is no other development comparable to TAED. TAED is envisioned to be well-positioned to benefit the economy, community and environment. It is with this holistic approach towards improving all three – economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability, that TAED will undoubtedly set a high benchmark for all future developments in Malaysia and the region,” he said.

Despite much objections from the public at the recent town hall hearing of feed back on the Draft TAED planning on 21^st March, 2017, we are hearing from the Chief Minister with the latest declaration on TAED with so much emphasis on the economic parameters rather than what the name Tanjung Aru Eco Development  really mean for the paramount importance of ecological consideration.

What would we make it out if 45,000 residents as expected ( for low-impact residences) would occupy TAED once it is completed soon? If one or two cars are owned by 45,000 residents, how would the Tanjung Aru cope with such massive traffic any day? Isn’t that an environmental disaster in the making?

Can we wake up to the fact that Tanjung Aru Beach is what is today due to the neglect by the Government for lack of low maintenance fund and yet now some people are “boasting” of  many billions of Ringgit for development of TAED to derive investment of RM30b and more?

Can we have a detailed feasibility paper and also a White Paper to ensure that the State and the people would not face a disaster in the making in TAED when the asset is worth RM50b, and failure of which is doom for Sabah ?

Joshua Y C Kong 30/3/2017

Nobody can sustain a reclaimed artificial beach

Nobody can sustain a reclaimed artificial beach
I refer to the headline title in Daily Express “TAED Fits Development Agenda of Government, Objectors Told “
City Hall (DBKK) Director-General Datuk Joannes Solidau told the public hearing on the Tanjung Aru Eco-Development project at the Kota Kinabalu Community Centre that it was the aspiration of the government to create a sustainable development beneficial to Sabah.
Despite all morning on Tuesday 22 March, 2017 at the KK community centre with so much protestors’ or objectors’ views on TAED, that view is still held by the committee under DBKK.
I would like to lay out my protests with a single page summarising the grounds that TAED is unsustainable as a reclaimed artificial beach with a likely very big failure in the offing.
What was the intention of TAED as the name of the company Tanjung Aru Eco Development Sdn. Bhd.? Simply it was “pollution and erosion” and that an ecological project was to be created. Pollution and erosion are both the neglected factors of DBKK and its predecessors for decades.
The town planning as done and exhibited at DBKK is not ecological but an economical one.
It is less than 30% eco as the dominant golf course and those concrete jungle have nothing ecological about that. Even the proposed forest in Prince Philip Park as expanded would take another 20 years and more to be mature and be functional.
So the proposed draft town planning as proposed is misrepresenting the original idea – eco.
Even the intention in the compulsory acquisition was extension of Tanjung Aru township but the initial offer for that was not on the level of market value of a township giving the impression of “exploitation” of the players.
Where is the feasibility study/paper to support this RM50b project?
Looking at the Annual Reports of TAED SB for a few years, there is no sign of a real business case of company as an agency of the State Government. Would the State Government be the real benefactor of the project? How much would the State Government make from the RM50b project in any projection? Instead it is likely the State Government may end up with debts (given the prevalent new property market decline) and then likely the debts be bailed out by the public and consumers. In a worst scenario, any claims for a failed project for whatever reasons could be in excess of RM50b. So mitigate that by stopping the TAED project.
Where would the money come from for the preliminary features like the artificial beach, reclamation of few hundred acres, the Prince Philip Park and minimal infrastructure which can cost up to RM5b? Only after these features are in place, the investors would come in.
In the name of erosion, pollution and eco, many existing valuable features already destroyed and more may be destroyed as the town planning ignore the possibilities of destruction of the Tanjung Aru township and KKIA for flash floods after reclamation.
Would buildings and properties without sea view on sight command premier prices as proposed? I think the proposed draft town planning could be varied or violated by the developer going back to a new drawing board to build buildings as near as be sea front as we have seen in other similar projects elsewhere to command a much better value. If that happens, it can be helpless for the people to oppose or protest that once TAED is approved.
Lets retain the centuries-old Tanjung Aru Beach as the original Godly icon, the eco treasure for the tourists and local with minimal restoration costs and implement the genuine ecological concept (less concrete and more greenery) under a revised TAED management Board and no realty transactions with a Botanical Garden with much less costs and more chances to generate better revenue of that with much greater participation from the public. The Botanical Garden inclusive of the Prince Philip Park without the golf course would be the enhanced green lung in Kota Kinabalu and beyond.
The money that is saved from TAED can be utilised for critical environment issues like traffic solutions in the MRT/LRT in KK and KK CBD to make KK more liveable as soon as possible and Sabah Environment Expo (SEE Sabah) within the Botanical Garden.
Joshua Y C Kong 24 March, 2017

Solutions for traffic in KK are very urgent.

Solutions for traffic in KK are very urgent.

According to Nielsen Global Survey of Automotive Demand, almost every Malaysian owns a car, the third highest rate of car ownership in the world. Kota Kinabalu City (KK) has a population of over 600,000, imagine what it is like when half a million cars compete for 10,314 public parking lots (exclude private parking spaces) in and around KK every day especially many people are moving into KK from the east coast towns possibly for good.

There is a pressing need for improvement in the general transportation system in Kota Kinabalu.

KK CBD is very built up with a set of roads with little scope of expansion or improvement for the traffic flows.

KK CBD lacks public carparks both ground and multi storeyed car parks hence traffic impeded by people looking for carparks convenient for their needs like doing business and other activities.

KK CBD is a narrow patch of land between Signal hill and the sea hence we have to explore the most efficient and capable system to smooth transportation in KK as traffic jam is losses for every consumer.

DBKK has a proposal for Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) together with one way system in CBD and yet to be launched soon according to the Mayor.  Buses have limitation in passenger loads and narrow roads in KK would become narrower for other vehicles if one lane in the existing road system is allocated for buses in and out of KK.  BRT using many buses and drivers may not serve the travelling public adequately during peak  hours if the intention is to  reduce private vehicles on the roads within CBD and maybe BRT  would provide  nothing  beyond the peak hours or 24/7.  Special bus lanes introduced before in the 1990s were aborted in KK upon public demand as the traffic jams could not be addressed as expected. There were also proposal for one way streets in KK CBD then but till now this has not been implemented for obvious reasons of KK has limited streets.

KK needs a transport system for longer hours daily if possible for 24/7 to cater for flows of local and tourists as tourists are coming in manifold increases.  Tourists tend to travel / move in all hours as air flights –in/out- are done at night too.

KK roads in and out from outlying towns like Keningau, Papar, Beaufort, Kinarut  to the south and Kota Belud/ Tamparuli / Ranau and Tuaran to the north and north east are congested in the peak hours for several hours and miles of cars are seen in the limited roads hence such travel on the roads are very costly in time and materials/fuel.

Even the BRT and the one way streets in KK CBD would not solve the existing daily traffic jams  throughout the day time in KK hence much bottle neck of incoming and outgoing traffic would still prevail .  Actually with one way streets in KK CBD and in the absence of adequate parking spaces to channel the traffic into adequate multi storeyed car parks within CBD , more traffic would be in the streets much longer as some parking space on the existing streets would be removed for the purpose of BRT as one streets system would mean turning off in “delayed” mode in the direction to look for car parking space hence more cars would be retained on the streets in longer slow queues .

One of the reasons for traffic jams in CBD is that cars take time to fill in vacant spaces in the street parking.  This is inevitable as there are not enough off-streets parking at the moment.

Even with the proposed one way streets and in the absence of adequate off street parking spaces, both the incoming and outgoing traffic of the narrow strip of land in KK CBD would be much slowed down hence unacceptable jams too.   One way streets system would be effective and efficient if KK CBD can be entered and exited in four directions..

Since consumers like their cars so much and like to park as near as possible to the destinations, buses  can be a low option for most consumers.  Honestly, are there really enough buses to serve the consumers within both the CBD and outlying areas in greater Kota Kinabalu?  For practicality purposes, how many buses would be available to move the heavy peak hours traffic for new satisfied consumers who are expected to switch from cars to buses?  Mobility in term of time and costs for the masses is very important for productivity to be enhanced.

So KK and outlying areas should look at the better options like MRT or LRT systems immediately for  time saving and ease of moving from the traffic jams on the existing streets and roads.  Basically buses would have the expected shortcomings in moving big numbers of people especially in the peak hours.

Another issue to the vehicle commuters from outlying areas into KK and KK CBD and in the very big number of cars daily, how would we find enough free of charge / low fee car parks at the buses terminals yet to be identified?

One thing is for sure, we cannot wait for 2022  for a liveable city in KK and the traffic systems much be addressed beyond BRT  immediately for other more capable systems to be in place as soon as possible.

Joshua Y C Kong 17 March, 2017

What is next after King’s speech on corruption as top item?

What is next after King’s speech on corruption as top item?

Was it the speech of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on 6^th March, 2017 in the Parliament that was prepared for him by the Prime Minister?  Was it his own speech as the King could have prepared it himself at the Palace?

Whoever prepared that speech, there is a glaring inaccurate picture of massive corruption which is in great urgency to drain the swamp in Putrajaya. 

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V expressed disappointment that fraud, corruption, leakages and leaks of government information involving government officials and former civil servants is still occurring.

His Majesty said although only a handful were involved in such activities, it had eroded the people's trust in the government. "As such I welcome the move to bring those involved to justice.

"The people must also give support by not being involved as the ones who offer bribery or possess unauthorised classified documents," His Majesty said when speaking at the official opening of the first meeting of the fifth session of the 13th Parliament here today.

I need to say that don’t leave everything to MACC to combat corruption but it is the responsibility of all to do so that we cannot fail the nation in 2050 as the BN/UMNO Government has failed vision 2020 mainly due to massive corruption.

The prevalent scenario cannot go on.

All the ministries especially those key ones and the Federal Audit Department (FAD) now headed by a non audit official should play their role in combating corruption otherwise we are doomed.

My personal experience albeit a few years in FAD had seen it all as how corruption could have occurred.  Corruption can come in all forms and can be hardly detectible as many could have escaped a life of corruption in the civil service to retire.  One very senior civil servant as head of a section in the early 1970s after I raised a major query even committed suicide over the corrupted debacle. I was blameless in that case which involved shortfall in the assessment of tax as a result of hanky panky.  Another case to be mentioned was that of an abuse of power by key officials with the intention to commit fraud after transfer RM5m from the Chief Minister Department in 1970 to the NGO for personal gain of same persons.

How many work in civil service and privatised companies like commissions and Government linked agencies ?  Can be in the region of 3 millions and more and so many more “buckets” for corruption to occur?

Federal Auditor General’s annual reports in recent decades do come out with many issues but such issues are just tips of the iceberg as the key powerful ministries with the most substantial annual allocations are likely excluded in the audit routine as civil servants and auditors are scared for their own rice bowl to audit these ministries properly.  Most likely only the lower levels are scrutinised selectively in a system beyond redemption.  Even queries would likely be ignored and how to pursue them without the support from the head of the Government?

Now that the King has stated clearly albeit under-emphasis, I hope that a good change is in the offing.

MACC’s response may mean nothing as its performance for decades had been lackadaisical and at best lips service.  Now MACC sets three years to clean civil service of corruption.  How would MACC do that with over 1.6 millions of civil servants not including those in Government agencies, commissions and Government linked companies?  Most of the times only small fishes were caught.  Even the moderate one in Sabah Water Department was done belatedly.

One especially glaring case is that Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) or Election Commission Malaysia has been untouched for so long and it is the fundamental process in the selection of Government for decades.  Don’t tell me MACC is not aware of the massive corruption going on in SPR even after the former Chairman of more than 20 years in office at the SPR had openly confessed to frauds and corruption.  Any dubious Government of such corrupted circumstances would be bad example for leadership.

Lets look at our nation’s civil service and its performance.

We now have one civil servant serving 19.37 people. The ratio is 1:110 for Indonesia, 1:108 for China, and 1:50 for South Korea. We won’t compare ourselves to the low ratio of 1:71.4 in Singapore because it’s a small island with hardly any rural population.

But why is our civil service so bloated at 1.6m civil servants?  With such a bloated civil service, most civil servants at all strata could have plenty of time to dabble in the corruption culture and behaviour of little Napoleons to extorted bribes and frauds as many have little job to perform to occupy their time at the office. Also when some civil servants are seconded to commissions and GLCs, they bring with them the culture of  corruption and the amount of corruption could be manifold bigger.

It is sheer official profligacy that the cost of maintaining the civil service largely under-work, at RM74bil in 2016 for salaries and allowances.

The Pension bill of RM19bil per annum, without any contribution to the GDP by retirees, is also unbearable in the longer term.

In the Parliament opening speech, Sultan Muhammad V also welcomed and supported the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) as envisioned by the Prime Minister and described it as vision that is 30 years forward in making Malaysia a successful country in the world stage.

After the failed target of 2020, it is also possible another worst failure on the way to TN50 unless corruptions and frauds are eliminated promptly.

Joshua Y C Kong  13 March, 2017