PUNCAK BORNEO: Two economic sectors, namely agriculture and tourism, are the focus in the Mambong constituency to be developed under the Greater Kuching Coordination Development Agency.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil said that the vast land area and tourism potentials in the constituency had vast potentials to progress if developed with the right strategies.
The Mambong assemblyman said coffee is one of the commodities to be planted on a big scale, adding that a coffee collection centre would be developed in Kampung Bayur, Padawan to buy coffee beans from coffee growers in the area.
He said that the allocation for the project had already been approved and there were buyers who were ready to buy coffee beans from the coffee growers in the area.
“Opportunities are wide open and the only thing left is for the villagers to plant coffee in their respective land,” he said at the Kampung Punau JKKK Appreciation Night at the village’s multi-purpose hall here on Saturday night.
He said that agricultural activities, including coffee cultivation, were able to give good returns and thus increased the income of the villagers involved.
At the same time, he said the focus was also to construct farm roads to make it easier for landowners to cultivate their respective lands with various agricultural crops.
He explained that in order to facilitate the construction of these farm roads, landowners needed to expedite the documentation of their respective land.
They must also be prepared to give permission for the construction of farm roads through their land.
Dr Jerip added that the tourism sector also had the potential to thrive in the Mambong constituency considering that there were many tourism products and tourism potentials there, which were still under-explored and developed.
He said among the tourism products that were abundant in the area but had yet to be fully explored are rivers, mountains and caves.
Meanwhile, Puncak Borneo Member of Parliament Datuk Willie Mongin who also spoke at the event, said he was working with Dr Jerip to bring more development to the Mambong constituency and the Puncak Borneo parliamentary seat.
“Now that we (Willie and Dr Jerip) are together in the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak), it is easy for us to work together to develop the people and areas in the Puncak Borneo parliamentary constituency and Mambong state constituency,” he said.
In addition, Willie said he was already working on various programmes for the youth in the Puncak Borneo parliamentary constituency, including organising talks for youth on political understanding. The programme targets youth, aged 18 to 28.
In addition, he said, an information session would also be arranged to give understanding to the people in Puncak Borneo about the issue of Sarawak’s status as a high-income state as recently announced by the World Bank.
Willie explained that the people should be given the understanding that the status of a high-income state does not mean that all citizens already had a high income.
At the function, Dr Jerip also officiated at the Kampung Punau newly upgraded multi-purpose hall.
At the ceremony, he announced a grant amounting to RM40,000 (RM30,000 for Kampung Punau JKKK and RM10,000 for the cost of repairing the water pipeline in Kampung Punau).
Meanwhile, Willie also announced an allocation of RM10,000, also for the cost of repairing the water pipeline in the village.
