SIMANGGANG: The state government is planning to construct a new RM15 million service centre in the Batu Lintang area near Sri Aman.
Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development II (Talent Development), Datuk Francis Harden Hollis said that the construction of the service centre is necessary as the Batu Lintang area now has company-owned and private oil palm plantations, several schools, and three approved border posts.
Harden, who is also Simanggang assemblyman, said two of the three border posts are located in Merakai, Sungai Putong, and Titingkah, Batu Lintang.
“I want the new Batu Lintang Service Centre to be operational before the development of the three border posts begin and complete in the future,” he said when chairing a dialogue session at the Sri Aman Development Agency (SADA) Meeting Room yesterday (Dec 9).
The dialogue session also included a slide presentation revealing that the project will involve the construction of 10 units of two-storey shophouses and a “tamu” (local market) on a two-acre site.
Sri Aman Division Land and Survey Department Superintendent, Michaelson Nyisin, said the project needed to proceed as nearly 4,000 people now live in the Batu Lintang area.
“This area has a clinic, several small churches, an immigration office, a customs office, three shops, the Wong Pupu Waterfall, 32 longhouses, three primary schools, and a police station.
“The proposal to build the Batu Lintang Service Centre was first submitted in 2017 before being approved on 3 December 2024 during the SADA Steering Committee Meeting,” he said.
For this purpose, the dialogue session involving government agencies, the private sector, community leaders, and three second-generation shop owners was held.
The dialogue aims to find solutions to issues related to the implementation of the project.
It is understood that the project implementation date will be finalised once the outstanding issues involving the three affected shop owners are resolved.
