‘Green Sibu Possible’

Idea behind redevelopment of Bukit Assek derives from sustainable urban-planning, meant to ensure decent living environment for local community

BUKIT Assek is known as home to many migrants from many remote areas across the state, who have come to Sibu town hoping to secure their own patch of greener pasture.

Some have settled in for more than 20 years, but their dreams and wishes have yet to be realised.

On the contrary, their situation is getting worse by the day – they have to make do with the cramped and unhygienic living conditions, and flash floods are always a threat, no thanks to poor layout planning and drainage.

All these things have made the redevelopment of Bukit Assek become more urgent than before.

At the end of the day, it is not just about transforming a place and making it become more vibrant, but it is also about providing a decent living space and environment to the migrants.

Once a ‘black area’

These were the thoughts that ran through Alex Ngu Sieng Hung’s mind when the 56-year-old architect was devising a plan to revitalise the whole of Bukit Assek area.

However, he was also aware of the importance for the people there to understand that such plan was never meant to eliminate them – it was actually tailored for them.

“Some of them may be content with their living situation, but I believe they deserve better because they’re part of the local community.

“We must help this group of people. We visited them recently and we could see that they really needed help, especially in terms of decent housing.

“But, how should we do it?

“When we asked them about their concerns, they voiced out their fear over not being able to afford such a place once it had been developed.

“Actually, they’re right to think that way,” he told thesundaypost.

Ngu, who is the principal of HKDS (M) Sdn Bhd, said Bukit Assek had a special place in his heart because he grew up there – at the neighbourhood along Jalan Tong Sang to be exact.

It was his playground up until he left for the US in 1988 to further his education.

After graduation, he settled down in Dallas, Texas and ran a business there.

He had also worked in Kuala Lumpur and the Middle East for a number of years.

Back then, he would return to his hometown to visit his parents once in a while, but it was around six years ago when he decided to come back for good and establish his company in Sibu.

“Every time I came back, I could see that Bukit Assek area was getting worse; some areas had been abandoned, some were unfit for occupancy, and (a few had) poor infrastructure, sinking roads, no economic model whatsoever.

“If there’s any development at all, it was just piecemeal and not capable of solving any problem.

“We’re basically wasting government’s money on running repair works on the area and after every time, the problem would keep resurfacing.

“The population dwindled as many opted to move out – those who stay are the people under the B40 (low-income) group.

“Business was not there, security was lacking, crime rate was high – this had become a ‘black area’ because the infrastructures were detached,” he pointed out.

Sustainability via proper urban-planning

So over the past five years, Ngu and his team of volunteers spent most of their time on studying Bukit Assek and making plans.

They finally came up with a master plan to re-develop the area covering 284 acres – they called it ‘Green Sibu Possible’.

The idea was to ensure that the redevelopment of Bukit Assek would be sustainable through viable urban-planning, and also to ensure that the town would not lose the people who had been living there for so many years.

“For any re-development project, we need to consider this group (B40); if you did not include them in the revitalisation project, you could lose all the ‘blue collars’.

“We need them to be part of the workforce and the change, to make sure that this project would not become a white elephant. We’re not chasing them away.”

Ngu said ‘Green Sibu Possible’ would focus on three partnerships – the people, the government and the investors (developers). Such partnership, he pointed out, would be established upon trust.

He said he had utilised many ways to collect data from the people, but not much was achieved due the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

He said one of the plans was to kick off a community dialogue by inviting the landowners and having them talk about the project.

“We have the plan, but it is not important – the people are! We want to see how they’re going to respond to it; how would they want to hang on to this revitalisation.

“They are the landowners, we have to work with them; give back the power to them to let them decide on their expectations and challenges to build up their confidence.”

Ngu said this was important in building the trust as most of the time in Sarawak, the decision was made from the top and thus, people might respond negatively.

“Let the landowners participate, we respect them as voters. Basically, give them the space to say anything regarding their needs, because every community’s needs are different,” he said.

Collaboration with government

Ngu said although his company was not affiliated with any political entity, working with the politicians was crucial in kicking off any project.

He submitted his master plan to Sibu Urban Renewal Committee chairman Dato Chieng Buong Toon about two years ago – the redevelopment meant for Bukit Assek was based on Ngu’s master plan.

He also talked to the council chief and other business folk on ways to make the project work.

He said on the government’s side, policy reform remained a key issue.
In this regard, he believed that every policy must be renewed and updated because society had changed so much.

Ngu also proposed for those who wanted to be part of the development project to be given tax exemption.

Focusing back on Bukit Assek, however, he maintained that the core objective of policy reform should be to help the urban poor in that area.

“We need to educate them on managing their salaries and their expenses, on ways to own affordable houses, and also how to change them in terms of social norms and social behaviours, because they need to change,” he said.

One of the ways to help the B40 group in Bukit Assek would be to offer affordable housing schemes and programmes to them, said Ngu.

‘20-Minute Society’

Ngu said upon its completion, ‘Green Sibu Possible’ would become a place where people could interact more effectively with one another.
It could also become a platform for family business operations, as well as a place of heritage.

Apart from lifestyle residential properties and resettlements, Ngu said other features of the redevelopment would include urban green space and community park, healthcare park, culture and heritage park, commercial and business park, as well as advance education, agriculture and digital zone.

“It would highlight the ‘20-Minute Society’ concept where you’d arrive at work within 20 minutes; if you need to buy something, it’s just a 20-minute walk away and thus, you’d not need to use cars – you can experience sustainable living,” he said, adding that the concept would also allocate bicycle and walking trails.

Ngu, who had been an architect for almost 30 years, said many people thought of this mission as being ‘impossible’, but he dismissed such notion in that many countries had already adopted a similar concept – citing the Wuhu Urban Renewal Scheme in China; Urban Renewal Scheme at Barangaroo, Sydney in Australia; Battery Park City in New York, USA; Granville Island in Vancouver, Canada; and Hafencity in Hamburg, Germany, as prime examples.

Ngu himself was one of the architects engaged in the Dallas Urban Planning, meant to redevelop the place and elevate its socio-economic status.

“The situation is quite similar to Bukit Assek – there were jobless people, lots of crimes and people moving out to the suburbs. Thus, the town council decided to bring back the people.

“Right now, if you go to Dallas, there are grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, nice restaurants and lots of green space.

“So for Sibu, we have to try. If there’s no change, eventually Sibu would be a ‘failed town’ – nobody would come back.

“We must do something about that.”

Ngu also said urban-planning had started 200 years ago in Paris, France during the ‘Industrial Revolution’.

The rural-urban migration had caused the city to become congested and polluted, and there were diseases due to poor city planning.

Then, one of the architects initiated urban planning and 20 years later, it transformed Paris significantly.

It is said that till today, the local authority in Paris is still using the same urban-planning concept because of its sustainability.

“Tiong Hua Road (in Sibu) is less than 100 years, but there’s no sustainability.

“That is why it is important to have a strong urban-planning mission that would help sustain an area and keep it green; the drainage, sanitation and sewerage would all be intact,” he added.

Ngu also expressed his hope that the feasibility study could finish by the end of this year so that the Sibu Urban Renewal Committee chairman could propose the master plan to the government.

“I hope that the master plan would be approved by 2026 for the project to kick off. I believe that this project would take at least 20 years to reach completion.”

He estimated the project cost would amount to RM5 billion (not including land cost) and the gross development value (GDV) to be at RM9 billion.

“We would not immediately tear down the whole Bukit Assek area; we would have a pilot project first, and we have identified Jalan Amoy for the pilot project.

“There are lots of wooden houses that are in pretty bad shape, as well as many under-developed sections.”

Ngu said the plan now would be to engage with the residents there and maintain constant communications with them so that they could gain as many data as possible.

He believed that as a society, the people could make a change, despite many great challenges ahead.

“We want people to come back, especially those from the middle-class and the upper-class. “We also want the B40 group to enjoy the change, be part of the community and contribute to the economy of this place,” said Ngu.