January 5, 2011 at 9:00 am
Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit has suggested ways to make the Rajang a top tourist attraction, saying the potential of the country’s longest river, at 640km, had yet to be fully exploited.
Urging local tourism industry players to be more creative, he said the Rajang could be tied up with the Empurau (Tor Tambroides), arguably the most expensive fish in the country that can cost RM500 or even more than RM1,000 per kg in Kuala Lumpur.
Rajang River
The Empurau is found in the upper reaches of the Rajang, in places like Balleh, in rivers above the Bakun Lake and a few other places,” he told reporters after closing the Fabulous Food 1Malaysia Street and Restaurant Food Fair 2010 here Sunday night.
He said people would be curious to know more about the Empurau, given its very high price tag and fame as a delicious freshwater fish.
“The Rajang can be promoted as a sanctuary of the Empurau. The rivers above the Bakun Lake can be used to breed them as the water quality is very suitable,” he said.
Dr Dawos also said that a night cruise could be introduced on the Rajang to show the lights of Sibu town, the longhouses, the Malay villages and people fishing at night along its banks, similar to the cruise on the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China.
“This is unique and is worth developing,” he said, adding that only the international Pandaw Cruise had begun to exploit the potential of the Rajang since July 2009 for high-end foreign tourists.
On Sibu, he said it could be promoted as a town where the tides of the two rivers, the Rajang and its tributary Igan, met just like in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where the tides of the Atlantic and Indian oceans met.
On the Bukit Lima Forest Park opened in July 2001 here, he expressed regret that it had not been featured much as a tourism spot of the town.
“It is after all the only peat swamp forest park in the state which has all the potential to be developed as Sibu’s first botanical garden as well. Certain people too have accused us of destroying our peat swamp,” he said.
Dr Dawos said the 280-hectare park should be properly maintained and interpreted for the endemic swamp timber like the “Alan” (Shorea albida) and the “Nyatoh” (Palaquium/Payena spp) and others growing there, besides bird watching.
Source: Bernama
Photo (c) watchsmart