Saturday April 18, 2009

Terengganu to focus on tourism

By SIMON KHOO and R.S.N. MURALI

KUALA TERENGGANU: The state government plans to make tourism its main revenue earner instead of just depending on royalties from petroleum and gas, Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said.

Ahmad (BN-Kijal) said plans were in the pipeline to increase more tourist products to attract more visitors, citing the recent opening of a mini zoo in Kemaman and beautification of Tasik Kenyir as examples.

“We want to make the tourism sector our backbone and top revenue earner in the years to come.

“This is because unlike commodities like petroleum and gas, it would not deplete in supply.

“The recent flunctuation of global oil price also create uncertainties,” he said in his winding up speech at the last day sitting of the state assembly here on Wedneday.

All the missing 10 Barisan Nasional backbenchers were present after they stayed away on Tuesday, citing safety reasons when three of them received threatening SMses.

Ahmad said so far, the state had received RM650mil in royalties and was still awaiting the remaining balance and another RM2.6bil in other forms of payments from the Federal Government.

He said this year, the state government would allocate RM50mil to promote island hopping activities and develop new islands such as Pulau Burung, Pulau Orkid, Pulau Herba and Pulau Buah-Buahan.

“We will also build an elephant sanctuary over an area of 40,000 acres to house between 120 and 150 wild elephants.

“An elephant training centre will also be set up to complement this tourist attraction product,” he said, adding that with the establishment of the sanctuary, the problem of wild elephants destroying crops of villagers would be minimised.

On the mini zoo, Ahmad said he was impressed that 10,000 people visited the zoo on the opening day while 3,000 tickets were sold on the second day.

He also expressed the state government’s appreciation to former premier Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for his contributions to the country.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our sixth Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for taking over the helm,” he said.

The sitting adjourned sine die after the nomination of Dungun Wanita Umno chief Zainun Abu Bakar as a senator, proposed by Datuk Zaabar Mohd Adib (BN - Rantau Abang) and supported by Rosli Othman (BN - Kemasik).