KUCHING: The upcoming Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) 2 could serve as a major indoor sporting and events venue, with its capacity of more than 9,000 offering space for everything from tennis and basketball to combat sports.
Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, said the government was looking at venue needs in response to growing demand from concert and event organisers.
“Looking at what is happening at the moment, there are so many organisers who want to come and host concerts and various events.
“We will look into this, not just for Kuching, but for other divisions as well,” he said during a press conference at Sarawak Stadium today.
For Kuching, Abdul Karim said BCCK 2 could provide a versatile indoor space once completed, extending beyond its conventional use as a convention centre.
“I believe inside BCCK 2, even tennis matches can be held, basketball, boxing, Muay Thai, taekwondo, and others can also be held inside that venue. It’s not just a convention centre for seminars or conferences,” he added.
He said the venue’s capacity of 9,000-plus would also give Sarawak another option for hosting large-scale events.
Abdul Karim, however, said the government had to balance the need for larger venues with actual demand to avoid building facilities that could not consistently attract crowds.
“We need to look and adapt according to the situation. Building massive venues for big events where there’s no crowd is no use either; it will not look good,” he said.
He cited Stadium Perpaduan, which has a capacity of about 5,000, as an example of an existing venue that is becoming too small for major events, particularly concerts.
“Now it has become more or less too small for large events and that is the place where people always want to host concerts and so on. We have to look at it from a bigger perspective now,” he said.
