‘Kampung air’ due for facelift

In Sabah, whenever kampung air is mentioned, people are quick to associate it with squatters, garbage, crime and anti-social elements. 

However, Kampung Air Tanjung Aru, a settlement built over water and a 15-minute drive from Kota Kinabalu along the coastal highway to the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), is all set to change its image under a RM10mil development plan.  

This “floating village” has some 3,000 people staying in about 240 dwellings on stilts and is much better off compared with similar villages in the state, but it is still an eyesore being a mere “stone’s throw” from the city centre. 

This village, like other water settlements in Sembulan, Likas and Pulau Gaya, is deemed the main source of garbage that litters the nearby beach lined by five-star hotels. 

Every day, workers at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park that encompasses the resort islands of Pulau Gaya, Pulau Mamutik and Pulau Manukan which front Kampung Air Tanjung Aru, have to work extra hard to clear the garbage along the beach. 

Changes on the way: A wooden bridge connects the villagers of Kampung Air Tanjung Aru to the mainland in Kota Kinabalu. A RM10mil plan to develop the village is being implemented. — Bernama

This floating village came to life long before the five-star hotels or the KKIA, the second busiest airport in the country after the KL International Airport.  

“There is no regulation that can be enforced to stop villagers from dumping garbage into the sea. 

“Furthermore, this village has no sewerage system, hence sewage from all the houses here flows directly into the sea,” Kampung Air Tanjung Aru headman Manap Abdullah said. 

However, this is all set to change. 

A development programme, mapped out by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry, is being implemented by the Kota Kinabalu City Council (DBKK). 

The RM10mil programme will provide facilities and infrastructure such as a jetty as well as sewerage and garbage disposal systems. 

“We want to turn this village into an attraction for foreign tourists who have not seen a floating settlement in their home countries,” said DBKK director-general Dr Chua Kim Hing. 

Dr Chua said no villager would be relocated and the settlement would remain at its present spot. 

He said that among the facilities to be built at the village would be a handicraft centre and a multi-purpose hall for the staging of cultural performances. 

Dr Chua said the residents were expected to benefit economically from the move to make Kampung Air Tanjung Aru a tourism product. 

Manap said that more than 80% of the villagers had given their nod for this development programme. 

“It is hoped that the village’s negative image can be shed,” he said. 

Like most villagers, Collina Masidin, 36, welcomes the change. 

The part-time referee with the Sabah Football Association already has plans to set up a stall selling grilled fish when the development project is completed. – Bernama