KUALA PENYU

About 50 years ago, Kuala Penyu town was made up only of a row of shops built with palm trees and nipah leaves and surrounded by muddy mangrove forest.

The present Kuala Penyu district, covering a 45,326 square km and 80km of beaches, has an entire infrastructure on par or probably better than some other districts in Sabah.

Developing: Kuala Penyu town seen from the air.

“Previously, Kuala Penyu only had a health clinic and the nearest hospital was in Beaufort, about 40km away. Now, it has its own RM76 million hospital,” said District Officer Hasbi Abdul Ghaffar.

The 76-bed hospital, built on a 13ha site, was opened in March last year and presently had 180 employees including two doctors, he said. Kuala Penyu district is located within the Beaufort parliamentary constituency.

It has a 22,000 population mainly of indigenious people like Dusun Tatana, Bisaya, Kadayan and Bajau and Chinese and Bruneians.

Their children go to 26 primary schools, four secondary schools, 15 Kemas kindergartens and a Mara vocational institute.

The newest primary and secondary schools in Kuala Penyu are Sekolah Kebangsaan Pekan Kuala Penyu and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pekan Kuala Penyu that were built on a 10ha site costing RM56mil. The schools have a capacity for 1,500 and 1,000 students respectively.

“For the Kuala Penyu community, facilities like schools and hospitals are very important for the development of quality human capital needed by the country,” said Hasbi.

The Fire and Rescue Department will have a new RM22mil office building in Kuala Penyu expected to be start operations by yearend. A police complex costing RM9mil is also being built.

Education: An aerial view of SMK Pekan Kuala Penyu (with red roofs) built on 10ha at a cost of RM56mil.

A RM2mil jetty for vehicles has been completed for people who use ferries to travel between Labuan and Menumbok which is also an entry point from Brunei.

Kuala Penyu community leader Drs Monih Epin said all the facilities enjoyed by the people showed that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government cared about their needs.

Access: A RM2mil jetty for vehicles has been completed for people who use ferries to travel between Labuan and Menumbok

Though the elected representative is an independent, the BN did not neglect the constituency and allocated development funds for the well being of constituents.

However, he said, the delivery system would be more effective if the constituency was represented by someone from BN.

Fast travel: The ferry is the main means of transport to Kuala Penyu town.

Sabah Special Affairs Department (Jasa) director Datuk Dr Yassin Amit said that Kuala Penyu, which hosted the Information Ministry’s Meet the Customers Day on Tuesday, could promote the district as a tourist destination.

Besides nearby Pulau Tiga which is well known for its mud volcano and was a shooting location for the popular American TV reality programme “Survivor”, Kuala Penyu has other interesting sites like Tasik Sitompok that can be developed as a tourist destination, he said.

“The beaches are beautiful and clean while Tasik Sitompok is suitable for visitors who love mangrove swamp forests,” Hasbi said.

Those interested in rumbia (sago palm) should go to Kuala Penyu because there is a Rumbia Information Centre the Rumbia Fiesta is held annually here in July, he said.