State to restore Wisma Radio Sabah as part of state tourism revival plan

 By Olivia Miwil - September 21, 2021 @ 12:52pm

Yang diPertua Negeri Sabah, Tun Juhar Mahiruddin said the old building was a radio broadcasting centre in the 1960s. - Pic courtesy of SABAH INFORMATION DEPT

KOTA KINABALU: The state is looking to restore Wisma Radio Sabah which is among the cultural treasures here.

Yang diPertua Negeri Sabah, Tun Juhar Mahiruddin said the old building was a radio broadcasting centre in the 1960s.

"It used to be a place for the convention of Cobbold Commission in February 1962 on Sabah's participation in the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

"Now the area is in the process of being reclaimed by the state in accordance with its historical value and recognition as a Cultural Treasure by the Sabah Government began in September 2017," he said during his policy speech at the opening of the 16th State Assembly Sitting.

He said the restoration was part of efforts to redevelop the tourism industry which has been severely affected since Covid-19 hit in March last year.

The number of tourists who arrived in Sabah last year was only 977,460 compared to 4.2 million in 2019.

This year, there were only 108,862 visitors to the state for the first six months which translated into RM174 million in tourism receipts.

Therefore, the state government has outlined the Sabah Tourism Recovery Roadmap Plan to revive the industry by several initiatives including improving infrastructure and basic tourist facilities especially in the rural areas.

Apart from that, Juhar said the state would continue its policy to ensure total protected areas are more than 30 percent of the state by 2025 for the protection and improvement of environmental services.

"Focus will also be given to strengthen the implementation of sustainable forest management.

"At the same time, the state government will also make an assessment on the achievements and progress of all Sustainable Forest Management License Agreement (SFMLA) holders," he said.

At present, there are 1.587 million ha of Class II Commercial Forest Reserves through the long term SFMLA.

In line with the Sabah Maju Jaya 1.0, which is also focusing on forest restoration, Juhar said efforts include silviculture and enriching plants at degraded forests.

Sabah will also plant eight million trees every year for five years, to accelerate the development of forests to guarantee sustainable wood supply and to explore potentials and opportunities on generating new forest products.