KOTA KINABALU: Nostalgic Penampang folk and history buffs would be relieved to know that the five rain trees in Kasigui in Penampang, about 10km from here, will not be chopped down as initially planned after all.
There was a campaign launched last December to stop a road expansion project from steamrolling over a little colonial-era trading post in Kasigui of which there was now only a small marketplace, a coffee shop and the five rain trees estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old.
A group of villagers also held a peaceful protest in January this year to voice their objections against the felling of the trees.
But Penampang MP Datuk Ewon Benedick said the Public Works Department (JKR) informed him during the Penampang district action committee meeting that the trees will be spared.
“I was told during the meeting this morning that the department’s current road widening plans will not involve the cutting down of the five rain trees,” he told reporters, after an event here on Thursday (April 13).
“This matter was discussed in the meeting and that was the explanation given to us by JKR. I hope the decision stays,” added Benedick, who is also the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister.
Before Penampang’s more modern and hip Donggongon town, which is the district’s administration centre, was built, Kasigui used to be the go-to “town” for people in the Kadazandusun heartland.
The tiny settlement derived its name from the native kasigui tree.
Based on a previous notice from JKR, the trading post fell within a proposed road expansion linking Donggongon town and Jalan Panglima Banting junction along the Donggongon-Tambunan road.
District JKR engineer Nelliah Sitor was quoted by local paper the Daily Express on Friday (April 15) as saying the road expansion project was well underway but that the rain trees will be left untouched due to strong public objections.
She said they have, however, removed trees along the Penampang bypass, from Padimas up to Kivatu, assuring that this fulfilled environmental requirements and standards.
The project, she said, will widen the road into a three-lane stretch that will cut through the regularly congested Donggongon roundabout, especially during peak hours, to the road leading to Tambunan via a RM300mil flyover.
Its masterplan has already forced the relocation of the Sigah landmark on the roundabout, she said, adding nature must also give way in order for development.
“The Land and Survey Department is in the midst of evaluation. A few homes and shops near Kasigui that are in the way have been served notices.
“We cannot please everyone. It’s either the shops or the trees. Now, the contractors have an agreement with the (Sabah) Environmental Protection Department not to chop down the Kasigui rain trees,” Nelliah said.
