KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew said she needed more time to study the proposed reclamation of Tanjong Aru Beach which is part of the multi-billion ringgit Tg Aru Eco Development (TAED) beachfront project.
Asked for her stand on the project today, she said she was a newly-minted state minister and had to study the issue more.
“I need to study further on this one. I am a little bit confused on this one. Some say this and some say that. But let us study the issue first.
“Also, I need to know more about sand dredging. So I need to know more about it before I can comment on the matter,” she said when met after her Chinese New Year walkabout here today.
Liew, who is Sabah PKR chairman, was asked for her stand on the project as she had opposed TAED in 2017 when she was state opposition leader.
The project was mooted during the Barisan Nasional era in the state and was heavily opposed by environmental groups, individuals and also opposition politicians.
Last week, Liew was made a state minister in a reshuffle by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor following a political crisis that almost saw the latter’s government collapse.
The Sabah cabinet is to soon decide on the development of the iconic Tg Aru Beach as a 15-year sand mining concession has already been signed for the beach’s reclamation.
Hajiji has said that the popular Prince Philip Park in Tg Aru will be expanded from 22 acres to 100 acres under the proposed development.
Handal Borneo Resources Sdn Bhd, an associate firm of Handal Energy Bhd, entered into an agreement with TAED, a unit of the Chief Minister Incorporated, for the operation, management, extraction and sale of marine sea sand for a 15-year period in three concession areas.
Handal Energy noted this in its Bursa Malaysia filing on December 19.
The concession areas are the sunken Barrier Shoal, Hayter Shoal and Bunbury Shoal, near Kota Kinabalu city. – The Vibes, January 20, 2023
