BY NORHAYATI UMOR
PELABUHAN KLANG, AUG 14: The Orang Asal community in Pulau Indah who are affected by the modernisation from the high-impact Selangor Bio Bay (SBB) project will not be neglected.
In fact, the area will be upgraded in a project including their houses and building commercial sites to help approximately 200 villagers continue with their daily activities.
According to Central Spectrum Sdn Bhd (CSSB) Chief Executive Officer, Mahmud Abbas, the State Government wants to retain the orang asal’s culture and traditions so that it is not lost to development.
“The traditional village will be developed without removing the residents unlike the common practice in several other developments.
“The uniqueness of this project is that, we are retaining the existing village and cleaning up the area to protect the landscape and building a new jetty to facilitate their daily activities, and building business sites such as fishermen market.
“At the moment, CSSB is also building three new houses for them. These people have their own culture, dances and traditions which need to be preserved, so they can continue life as usual,” he said when met after his visit to the SBB project site in Pulau Indah.
Also present were Investment, Small & Medium Industries, Trade and Transport Exco, Dato’ Teng Chang Khim and Invest Selangor Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Hasan Azhari Idris.
Mahmud said, by preserving the existing village, SBB will feature its tradition to domestic and foreign tourists, eventually creating an eco-tourism area.
“The concept is to modernise the village including the orang asal, but not turn it into a city, so that we can preserve its culture and environment.
“This will not only make SBB an industrial centre but also as a recreational area that can attract tourists to come,” he said.
Meanwhile, Teng said, SBB is Selangor’s largest economic generation site that also provides job opportunities to graduates in biotechnology, eventually generating economy for the locals through the manufacturing sector that its creating.
“We are now in the process of attracting investors particularly in the manufacturing sector. It is difficult to estimate the number of job opportunities, but looking at the huge industrial site, it certainly can generate income for various groups,” he said.
Selangor Bio Bay not neglecting Orang Asal
