Malaysia: Royal Belum Park gets boost

Audrey Dermawan New Straits Times 20 Sep 13;

UPGRADE: RM4.7m project provides more facilities at rainforest complex

TASIK BANDING: PERAK's eco-tourism product -- the Royal Belum State Park -- received a major boost with the launch of its camps and tourism project yesterday.

The RM4.7 million upgrading project was undertaken by the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA). It started in September last year and was completed in June.

The upgrading work was carried out on three of its four existing tourism camps as well as a host of other facilities in the world's oldest rainforest.

The three camps -- Sungai Tiang, Sungai Papan and Sungai Kejar -- are sited within the Aman Damai Orang Asli village.

The work also included the construction of new infrastructure such as chalets, roofed camp sites, a banquet hall, public toilets, a multi-purpose kitchen, office premises, a hanging bridge, surau, BBQ pit as well as a reception hall.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the project was part of a blueprint prepared by NCIA last year to carry out low-impact development in the Belum-Temenggor rainforest complex.

Under the blueprint, NCIA is expected to plough in RM17 million to upgrade facilities in tandem with Royal Belum's growing fame.

"We expect more development to be carried out in the park.

"Among them is the extension of the Grik airstrip to enable more chartered flights to fly directly into Grik. "This way, more people can come and enjoy nature at its best in the park," he said after launching the base camp and village tourism project here.

Present were state Tourism Committee chairman Nolee Ashilin Mohamed Radzi and NCIA chief executive Datuk Redza Rafiq.

Redza said NCIA would cooperate with others and continue to fund new initiatives in the park.

"The park is one of two thrusts under NCIA's care, the other being the Taiping heritage town."

Besides that, NCIA also cooperated with various agencies to carry out training programmes for the Orang Asli community.

The programmes focused on tourism and handicraft aspects, which is part and parcel of the community.

According to studies carried out under the Belum-Temenggor Tropical Forest Integrated Master Plan, there are more than 3,000 species of flora and fauna in the Belum-Temengor Tropical Forest.

As such, the Belum-Temengor rainforest complex has been identified as the country's mega bio-diversity hub, the home to various species of wildlife, currently under threat or facing extinction such as the tapir, Sumatran rhinoceros, seladang, Asia elephants and Malayan tigers.