THE controversial Sembulan Tengah water village is set to be included in Kota Kinabalu’s transportation hub programme.
Kota Kinabalu Mayor Datuk Seri Sabin Samitah said the proposal to incorporate the village into what is known as KK Sentral would be submitted to the state government once issues involving its current inhabitants are resolved.
He explained that this plan is part of Kota Kinabalu’s five-year roadmap, where the 42-acre Sembulan Tengah area, under Phase III of the Sembulan Urban Renewal Scheme, would be transformed into a public transport terminal.
The move was seen as deviating from the initial aim of the Sembulan Urban Renewal Scheme, which sought to develop the area into a modern township.
“We will be making our proposal as there are still people living in the area. We have not decided on the name yet – it could be an extension of KK Sentral or Sembulan Sentral,” Sabin said after leading a Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) town hall session today.
The initiative is part of the Kota Kinabalu Public Transport Master Plan, under which DBKK had initially listed four main terminals: KK Sentral, Inanam Terminal, and the Kapayan Terminal.
At present, only KK Sentral and Inanam Terminal have been completed, while it remains unclear whether the Kapayan Terminal project has been scrapped.
The final phase of phase III of the Sembulan Urban Renewal project faced a setback in late September when the eviction met opposition from its existing inhabitants.
Separately, Sabin dismissed claims that the RM54 million KK Sentral building is a white elephant project.
Construction of the terminal began in 2011 and was completed in 2017, with operations starting in July 2019.
Currently, KK Sentral hosts 114 stalls, but operators have expressed concerns over low visitor traffic. Sabin assured that efforts are underway to attract more visitors to the facility. - November 29, 2024
