Fire destroys recently built buggy station

What was the buggy station at Royal Kampung Kuantan has been reduced to rubble.

ONE of the oldest golf courses in South-East Asia, Royal Kampung Kuantan Club in Kuala Selangor, was hit by a fire this week that destroyed its buggy station, all the buggies, and other equipment.

Essentially, the fire, which is being investigated by the Fire Department, left Kampung Kuantan as a “walking course” on Thursday morning.

TeeUp sought to establish what caused it, exactly when it happened and when the fire brigade arrived, how many buggies were lost in the fire, what the estimated cost might be, and if insurance covered the buggy station that was only recently built, when it was opened, and how much did it cost to be built.

Responding to this probe for comment on the incident, the club told TeeUp that “the buggies and the station belong to a company called Agri Pacific.

“They are our buggy contractors. We only provide space for the building”.

In a couple of communiques to their members, the club wrote: “Please be informed that the Senior Club Championship scheduled for May 18 (yesterday) will be postponed until further notice due to the buggy problem.”

In another one, the club wrote: “Please take note that effective immediately, buggy services are not available.

“This is due to a fire that destroyed all the buggies and the station.

“Please do not speculate on this matter because we are awaiting a report from the fire department. Members will be notified as soon as the buggy service is resumed.”

Given the extent of the damage caused by the fire, it is certainly unclear when things might return to normal as far as the buggy service is concerned and worrying one at that.

Among the members at the club on Thursday morning, who were there while the fire department’s personnel inspected the scene and recorded statements from some of the staff, it was suggested that the club might want to consider renting buggies for their members to use in the meantime.

Efforts to determine how much the buggy station cost to build, not more than two, three, four, or so years ago, proved unfruitful.

But given what transpired this week, the committee that runs the club might now want to divulge this or any other queries the membership might have related to the incident, particularly what line of action they intend to take to remedy the situation of buggy use considering the devastation.

Kampung Kuantan was opened in 2010 and designed by British plantation expatriates as a nine-hole course.