None of the 130 participants at a TAED workshop organised by KKYP in January last year accepted the project as it was originally planned, according to a member of the group, Duncan Wong.
He noted an allegation that Parti Warisan Sabah promised to put a stop to the multi-billion-ringgit project during the campaign for the recent general election.
If the government was averse to abolishing the project, he said, it should scale it down considerably, allowing only necessary facility upgrades while prioritising conservation and rehabilitation, particularly of the beach in the area.
“In general, people just want the project to be people-oriented and not investment-oriented, which is what TAED is,” he said. “The project shouldn’t be an exclusive luxury project.”
The project involves the construction of hotels, residential units, marinas, entertainment outlets and other amenities and would involve extensive reclamation of the sea.
Wong told FMT many of the participants at the KKYP workshop rejected the project outright, but some said they would accept revisions in the draft scheme and some were open to alternative options.
“People actually want more open space, more access for the public rather than for private groups,” he said.
They were against reclamation and the building of luxury hotels and golf courses, he added, noting that Kota Kinabalu already had a number of golf courses, including one in Tanjung Aru.
He said the workshop yielded a report expressing concerns and suggesting alternative concepts which was submitted to the Kota Kinabalu City Council and the state-owned company overseeing the project, TAED Sdn Bhd.
They ignored the report, he alleged.
“They just proceeded without any changes,” he said, claiming that they did not want to conduct a second public hearing, which would have been mandatory before changes could be made.
The first public hearing was held early last year.
Wong said the report had since been uploaded to KKYP’s Facebook page.
One of the concerns expressed by opponents of the project is that it would entail the relocation of the historical Prince Philip Park.
“Relocating the park means a discontinuity in heritage,” Wong said. “There was no consultation on heritage done for this project.”
The project, part of a master plan for a facelift of the greater Tanjung Aru area, was put on hold following Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the recent election.
Chief Minister Shafie Apdal has come under heavy criticism since last Wednesday, when he announced in the state assembly that TAED might not be scrapped after all.
He said the government would review the development plans, adding that the state would take into account the views of the people as well as the interests of the government and investors before making a final decision.