Sg Tunoh river basin in Bukit Mabong district, Kapit division is poised to become the State’s food basket as well as ecotourism centre in the next 15 years, revealed Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing.

But in order to realise the potential of Sg Tunoh river basin, Masing said, the government will need to pump in at least RM2 billion especially for infrastructure such as roads, an airstrip and a township.

“To realise Sg Tunoh’s full potential, we need two prerequisites, namely the physical accessibility which include road and an airfield as well as good and effective marketing tools such as the internet and creative entrepreneurs to sell the perishable products from there such as vegetables, fruits and flowers,” Masing told The Borneo Post at his office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur here yesterday.

He revealed that a sum of RM600 million has been made available to build a 40-km link road from the proposed Kapit-Baleh HEP Dam to Sg Tunoh which could be implemented in the next three years.

“On top of that we need an additional at least RM500 million to build an airstrip there. And another RM900 million to build a township there in order to realise the full potential of Sg Tunoh river basin in the next 15 years,” he said.

Masing who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation revealed that the master plan for Sg Tunoh was hatched by former Chief Minister and current Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

“We flew over the area once and he immediately saw its potential. After that, he asked me to develop it. He was sharp enough to see the potential in Sg Tunoh river basin,” he said.

Masing said some 50,000 hectares would be suitable for the cultivation of wet paddy, oil palm, rubber and other cash crops.

“We can also plant flowers, vegetables and fruits at the foothill of the Hose Mountain and with the airstrip, we can airlift these perishable products to the nearest towns to sell them,” he said.

Masing said there were now about 1,500 people from five longhouses already settled down in the area.

“They have been there since the 1970’s because they knew the land is fertile. But the good thing about them is that they understand that they are squatting on state land. So we should have no problem with that,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Masing who is also Baleh assemblyman said Sg Tunoh would be ideal for CAN ecotourism product as it lies next to the Hose Mountain Range.

“With its cool climate which is similar to Cameron Highlands in West Malaysia, it offers fertile land for farming except that Sg Tunoh river basin has more than Cameron Highlands because we can offer ecotourism products with its close proximity with the Hose Mountain where there are rivers and waterfalls,” he said.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Peter Sibon

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