PM Najib opens boardwalk on Pulau Tioman

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today opened a boardwalk connecting Kampung Tekek to Kampung Air Batang in Pulau Tioman here.

Construction works on the project, which was financed by the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) and implemented by the Tioman Development Authority (TDA) , began on Sept 22, 2015 and completed on February 6 this year.

Earlier Najib arrived on the island by helicopter at the Kampung Tekek Airport, Pulau Tioman and was met on arrived by Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, Tioman state assemblyman Datuk Mohd Johari Hussain aa well as 500 residents and school children.

He then spent more than 30 minutes inspecting the boardwalk measuring 310 metres by 2.4 metres, which was built at a cost of RM1.6 million.

Prior to this, about 1,000 residents in Kampung Tekek and another 300 in Kampung Air Batang as well as tourists had to go through hilly tracks besides taking a boat if they had to conduct any day-to-day matters in the two villages.

Tok Empat (headman) of Kampung Tekek Zulkainani A Hamid said the broadwalk provided facilities to the villagers and tourists to purchase daily essentials between Kampung Air Batang and Kampung Tekek.

"It is also a new tourism landmark in Kampung Tekek, which is the administrative centre on the island besides making it easier for them to handle any matters in the case of an emergency.

Meanwhile a resident of Kampung Air Batang, Wan Mohamad Tahir Wan Abdullah, 58, described the provision of the broadwalk as a blessing to the school children in his village to attend school in Kampung Tekek.

"All this while parents had to send and fetch their children four times a day to school which can only be reached by climbing a steep hill," he said, adding that with the facility, parents were no longer worried about their children's safety.

-- BERNAMA