RM70mil Sports School being built in Sepanggar

Papar: A National Sports School, the first of its kind to provide special training for athletes involved in water sports, particularly sailing, is being built at Sepanggar.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Ir. Dr Wee Ka Siong said costing about RM70 million, it is expected to be ready by 2012.

"This will be the first of its kind in Malaysia. It will be the training ground for our water sports athletes. We want to get those students who are talented to study there," he said.

The existing sports schools in Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar provide training in all the other types of sports.

Dr Wee said this when met after his visits to two national-type Chinese schools, SJK(C) Chen Wah and SJK(C) Anglo Chinese, as well as the proposed SMK Pengalat site, here, Saturday.

Deputy Health Minister and Papar MP, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, and Assistant Local Government and Housing Minister and Kawang Assemblyman Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan Bahadar, among others, were present.

Meanwhile, Dr Wee assured the Ministry will find a solution to the problem faced in the implementation of the proposed SMK Pengalat project.

The project was issued a stop work order. The cause of the problem has to do with EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment).

He said under the existing related law, a Minister from time to time can determine and decide when to exclude prescribed activities from the need of an EIA.

"The Minister can actually say yes or no. I want all the agencies involved to sit and talk about it. Of course we do not want to cause any adverse impact to the environment and we want to complete this project fast," he said.

"We are a collective government, so we going to find a way so that there will be no problem and complete this project fast and according to schedule," said Dr Wee.

The proposed school, a project under the Education Ministry under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), is supposed to have 36 classrooms and other related facilities once it is completed and operational.

On the problem faced by the SJK(C) Anglo Chinese Papar where its building had been classified as unsafe and the school administrator's request for a new school building, Dr Wee said he wants them to build a new two-storey building with six classrooms, while do some repair works on the existing building.

Earlier he officiated the ground-breaking for the SJK © Chen Wah new school building here besides witnessing the presentation of cheques from various donors as well as the Education Ministry to the school administrator.