MBI UPGRADING IPOH TOURISM SPOT

 

IPOH: Kinta Riverwalk is one of the designated tourism spot for the Ipoh Heritage Trail in which the Ipoh City Council (MBI) is embarking into a project to upgrade the area around the Ipoh City Tourism Triangle.

The proposed plan for upgrading include Old Town based on a study made by the Special Area Plan (SAP) include Tin Mining Heritage City 2020 and the Ipoh Local Plan (2035) located on the banks of Kinta River.

 

KINTA RIVERWALK AREA

 

The project to develop Kinta Riverwalk is divided into three locations firstly in front of Kinta Riverfront Hotel starting from the Jalan Raja Musa Aziz Bridge until Jalan Lim Bo Seng Bridge spanning 1,600-metre funded by Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) with an allocation of RM3 million.

The second location starts near Hadramout Restaurant from Lim Bo Seng Bridge until Jalan Sultan Idris Shah Bridge spanning 280-metre borne by local government with an allocation of RM500,000.

The third location is located at Old Town starts from Jalan Sultan Idris Shah Bridge until Lorong Hala covering 280-metre funded by the Ministry of Housing & Local Government (KPKT) with an allocation of RM500,000.

Datuk Bandar Datuk Rumaizi Baharin @ MD Daud said that the construction work had been completed in front of Hotel Kinta Riverfront by NCIA. 

 

GERBANG MALAM

 

“Meanwhile, construction work for upgrading areas near Hadramout Restaurant is expected to be completed by June followed up with areas in Old Town which will start off by July and ends in December, this year.

“Plans for building the Amphitheatre structure in D.R. Seenivasagam Park is expected to be completed by March 2022.

“The council hopes with the newly upgraded Kinta Riverwalk will attract tourists from other states to Ipoh City, besides providing opportunity to small trader to do business, here.

 

VISITORS AT GERBANG MALAM

 

In another matter, Rumaizi said that a contractor has been appointed for the project of building a shading structure at Night Market (Gerbang Malam), which will start work by June and is expected to be completed by November, this year. This project is allocated for RM2.8 million.

“In addition, the council will be upgrading the Dato’ Tahwil Azar Food Court also popularly known as Children’s Playground (TKK) whereby construction work will begin in June and ready by October, involving repairing the roof and painting the buildings, with an allocation of RM750,000,” he said.

 

 

MBI: STEPS TO REDUCE C-19

IPOH: The Ipoh City Council (MBI) encourage the public to pay their bills via online or credit card to help reduce Covid-19, during Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

Datuk Bandar Datuk Rumaizi Baharin @ Md Daud said during a full board meeting that the council had suggested that the public should try to pay bills via online internet banking through the local banks acting as agents of MBI.

“They can also pay via local bank website through JomPay service, MBI website (www.mbi.gov.my) using FPX services or PBTPay (www.pbtpay.kpkt.gov.my).

 

FULL BOARD MEETING MAY 2021

 

“As for parking space, the public is still required to pay for parking for the whole period of MCO.

“They are encouraged to upload Park@PERAK from Play Store, App Store and Huawei Gallery to make payment for parking. Alternatively, they can pay via eWallet Touch N Go, Boost, GrabPay and Mcash.

“However, counters for paying bills will still be open from 9am to 12noon on Tuesday and Wednesday, operational at Kaunter We Serve,” he said. 

 

 

Rumaizi added that small traders renting shop lots from the council will be exempted from paying the rent for month of June during the MCO period.

“There will be 1,000 traders renting shops at Ipoh Market (Pasar Besar Ipoh) and Hawker Centre (Medan-Medan Selera),” said Rumaizi adding that the council had prepared an estimated RM50,000 allocations for rental purposes.

 

 

Total Lockdown, Are You Sure?

 

MY SAY

Many people are debating on the issue of EMCO v FMCO v MCO1.

The current implementation of the FMCO or Total Lockdown is still questionable whether it will be effective to bring down the virus.

For me, the best is MCO1 – the implementation is strict to the point of ‘all’ activities are stopped if you are serious of getting the numbers dropped drastically.

According to politician Wong Kah Woh - the biggest question for now for Ipoh folks is that some difference between FMCO and EMCO SOP. EMCO is tighter that is only one can go out and buy things. No jogging is allowed. FMCO – allows two people to go out and jogging is allowed. He advised “Just follow whichever is tighter”.

 

 

Jogging is an issue many debated – jogging and exercises are allowed in open areas around one’s housing area with 2metre distancing from 7am to 8pm. How to ensure 2-metre distance is practiced by the people The word ‘exercises’ is rather loose – does it mean non-contact exercise? Does it include cycling?

Lewis Kow, a service crew commented - in fact, it’s better to stay home during this period…instead of going for exercises.

Photography is not allowed is peculiar. I suppose media members can still take photographs for the purpose of media – if we show them our name cards/tag we are from media organisations.

Jahabar Sadiq, editor, said that Malaysia is strictly locked down again, maybe longer, and one of the casualities is photography. Which means one can’t get scenes like this because all forms of photography Is banned, reasons which remain a mystery to all. Perhaps it’s the best. We need to cut down on unnecessary movements to bring down the number.

 

 

Anthony Law, lawyer, who enjoys taking photographs of scenery also wonders why photography is not allowed as it is normally an individual act.

Another question is activities are open from 8am to 8pm. By 8pm everyone is advised to be at home yet it is not considered a ‘curfew’. That means people can still moved around in town even after 8pm as it is not curfew.

This time around (FMCO) kindergarten is not allowed to open except to serve children whose parents are both frontliners or in essential services. Another words, kindergarten can still do business limited to frontliners’ children.

What do you think? Is some of the ‘changes’ in the list of do and don’t acceptable?