KUCHING: Telaga Air will be the next tourist centre in the southern region of Sarawak especially upon the completion of the esplanade in mid-2009.

Pantai Damai assemblyman Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi said Telaga Air had high potentials to be elevated as a popular tourist destination as the area offered various nature-based activities.

“Work on the esplanade, which started in February this year, is 50 per cent completed. It is a big project and will be accomplished in 18 months.



“It involves replacing the old esplanade with some added infrastructure elements like a restaurant and an area for fishing,” he told reporters after presenting raya goodies and ‘duit raya’ to 20 needy persons at Dewan Serbaguna Telaga Air, some 30km from here, yesterday.

Dr Rahman pointed out that the state government had spent RM5.2 million on the esplanade project to promote tourism activities in the area.

“Telaga Air has been gazetted as a natural wetland and it has high potential to be an eco-tourism centre,” he said.

Citing as an example, he said deep-sea fishing had existed long in the area and the state government planned to “make it more systematic by introducing guides to lead visitors to spot the different types of fish.”

Scuba-diving and inter-island cruise would also be promoted because of a number of islands there, he added.

He said several stalls would be set up to offer items for fishing activities, as well as souvenirs for tourists.

To date, there are 400 houses with a population of about 2,500 in Telaga Air.

Kuching Allamanda Lions Club sponsored the raya goodies and ‘duit raya’ as part of its community projects to assist the needy in conjunction with the coming Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Among those present were Dr Rahman’s wife, Siti Shorgayah, Penghulu Morshidi Johari and organising chairperson Juita Drap.


resource from Borneo Post
http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=41601