TRANSIT took note of this article, which mentions that the Sarawak government is looking at expanding the boundaries of cities by creating more suburban areas to accommodate population growth.
TRANSIT hopes that Housing and Urban Development Minister Amang Abang Johari Tun Openg (Abang Jo) will take heed that suburban developments should be well planned, relatively holistic and complete, and above all, have strong public transport links between the suburban areas and town centres.
Sarawak to create more suburbs (The Star)
KUCHING: More suburbs will be created throughout Sarawak and particularly here in the next five years to accommodate the rising rural-urban migration rate, said Housing and Urban Development Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said the state government had requested RM2bil in funds for this purpose under the 10th Malaysia Plan and this would see suburbs sprouting up in Mukah, Bintulu and Miri.
“For Kuching alone, we will see an increase of rural-urban migration from Sri Aman and Samarahan.
“At the moment, we are developing the Matang area. Next on the list is between Telaga Air and Lundu.
“In the next two years, there will be a lot of developments between Lundu and Telaga Air such as a road linking Damai and Telaga Air.
“When this happens, you can expect more housing estates and townships to open up along the way,” he said when closing a leadership course for Samariang community leaders in Santubong yesterday.
He said these suburbs would also cater to the rising population in the city area as well as address the squatter issue although there were not many of them.
He pointed out that all this development was still in the planning stages.
TRANSIT Says:
There are too many examples of communities that have developed around the twin ideas of cheap automobiles and cheap petrol. Restructruing these communities is going to be a major challenge for local governments in the future – so it would be better if the communities are planned in the correct way.
It is possible to build enjoyable, comfortable, medium density communities with park-like settings, tropical amenities and good public transport as well.
What are your thoughts about the link between urban development and public transport? Please share your ideas here, by emailing us at klangvalley.transit@gmail.com, or commenting at our twitter feed (twitter.com/transitmy) or facebook page (Transit-Malaysia)
Transit Malaysia 
2 replies on “More suburbs in Sarawak?”
Oh, this article had been posted here for almost a year. Anyway, we have seen too many examples of the failures of too much suburbia. Look, the key word here is ‘too much’. America is leaving suburbia and moving back into cities with innovative urban developments of New Urbanism and TOD. Americans had experienced it before, and we in Malaysia should consider ourselves fortunate to learn from their mistakes, and not following it. Surely, we don’t want another complaint of high fuel prices when there is no other option of travelling other than using our own car! Public transportation is the way forward!
@T.O.D guy
Thanks for the feedback.
Regards, Moaz for TRANSIT