Wednesday 19 August 2020

Upgrading of Semenggoh Wildlife Centre lauded

Together we welcomed the recent announcement by #Sarawak government on the RM30 million allocation to upgrade facilities at the #Semenggoh Wildlife Centre by our Right Honourable Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

According to him, the allocation is divided into three stages and parked under the #Semenggoh #Rainforest Discovery Centre project, which will integrate and upgrade ecotourism facilities and products at #Semenggoh Nature Reserve and Botanical Research Centre to showcase Sarawak’s biodiversity and natural resources.

This will include for the upgrading of the entrance to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, a botanical garden and for the centre itself where within the botanical garden, there will also be a laboratory for research to be carried out on Sarawak’s biodiversity.

We applaud such efforts which are aimed is to make Sarawak the central hub for conservation and the Sarawak government is putting a lot of investment now to preserve the state's ‘green’ environment and to provide a space for public to carry out research on our biodiversity that will balance our efforts on conservation and habitat. 

By building a lab in the botanical garden, this will enable people to do research where they can collect samples and run preliminary studies which apart from that, Sarawak will also be upgrading the internet connectivity at Semenggoh Wildlife Centre.

According to our Chief Minister, the centre will also have high-speed Internet to be implemented by Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) in collaboration with Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC). The improved connectivity will bring benefits to the local community and tourists whereby they can access and discover more on what is available at the centre. Such initiatives are important because the number of local and foreign visitors to the centre has increased the past few years.

The state government through SMA has also approved RM3 million for providing 100Mbps fibre-optic internet connectivity to nine national parks including Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, Bako National Park, Gunung Gading National Park, Tanjung Datu National Park, Kubah National Park, Matang Wildlife Centre, Similajau National Park, Niah National Park and Lambir Hills National Park.

The project, which is expected to be completed by July 2021, will enable visitors to download up-to-the-minute information on the park and the idea of ‘real-time’ ‘Instagramming’ on the park grounds will serve as a means to attract more tourists to the parks. The centre has received about one million visitors and it is now a well-known attraction which counts prominent people such as Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales; actress Michelle Yeoh and Hollywood star Steven Seagal among its visitors.

Meanwhile, in conjunction with International Orangutan Day the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) and Sarawak Timber Association (STA) have handed over donations of RM50,000 each to SFC for orangutan conservation and upgrading of the feeding platform at Semenggoh Wildlife Centre.





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