The Summer Shopping Mall

It is confirmed that the land clearing activities adjacent to Desa Ilmu in Kota Semarahan will be the site for The Summer Shopping Mall.

THE Summer Shopping Mall will be a three-storey commercial mall scheduled to be opened by 2012.

The Summer Shopping Mall will be another shopping complexes beside The Spring Shopping Mall located at Batu Tiga in Kuching.

May be soon there will be The Winter Shopping Mall somewhere being developed nearby. I don't think there will be any developer dare to develop The Fall Shopping Mall because they don't want their business to be associated with the name of the Mall.

The Mall is located at a very strategic location surrounded by at least three higher education institutions for now.

The Mall will cover a total floor area of about 500,000 square feet with an anchor tenant to occupy the hypermarket and departmental store.

There will be over 220 retail shops including an eight-screen cineplex with ample parking space.

The Mall will provide job opportunities for the surrounding communities.

The Mall also will boost the value of properties nearby.

The Mall also will contribute to social related problems, hopefully this will not happen, to the surrounding communities.

The good news is that, students at the nearby higher institutions will not have to go to Kuching for entertainment because it is located just next to their door step. Hopefully, they will still dutifully go to their classes on time.

Watch video of The Summer Shopping Mall.

Funfair is Back in Town

This funfair is back in town and it seemed that the funfair operates at the designated spot several times in a year. The funfair is a small travelling show consists of several stalls and amusements. This funfair will only stay at a particular location only for certain period of time and then they will move on to other locations after that.


Above is one of the amusements available at the funfair and the workers were seen unpacking the set.

Surprisingly, this type of business is still thriving nowadays despite the availability of TV shows, Astros, Facebooking etc. This shows that the funfair is still relevant nowadays despite the stiff competition with other types of amusements available to the public.

Of course the funfair is not a match of Genting Highland's fairground or Sunway Lagoon.

Well, that is how certain quarters make their living.

Terminal Bersepadu Selatan - Bandar Tasik Selatan

The Terminal Bersepadu Selatan - Bandar Tasik Selatan or Integrated Transportation Terminal Bandar Tasik Selatan (ITT-BTS) started operations on the 1st January 2010.

The terminal is operated by Maju TMAS (Terminal Management and Services). The operator of the terminal had promised that the state-of-the art services offered at the terminal will be the first in the country to provide comfort and convenient to the public.

However, out of 51 bus companies, only eight companies started their operation at the terminal since Jan 1. There seemed to be something bothering the remaining bus companies from operating at the new terminal.

Refer HERE for more facilities available at the terminal.

In order to operate the facilities, the operator imposes charges to bus companies. However, several bus companies disputed the additional charges because they said that the facilities were built using tax payers money. The bus companies should realize that the terminal operator had to impose charges in order to run and manage the facilities efficiently.


Unfortunately, there is no such signage yet at the terminal. Soon there will be because there is no ticketing system implemented for taxi at the terminal. Taxis have to use their metered system and it can be subjected to touts' activities.
The bus companies also disputed the implementation of the e-ticketing system at the terminal. In order to prevent touts, bus passengers are required to get their ticket at the terminal and additional charges were being imposed to the passengers for the e-ticket even though they had purchased their ticket online using the bus operators' online ticketing system. There seemed to be no integration and coordination done by the terminal operator with the bus companies' e-ticketing system.

The chaotic and non-systematic e-ticketing system, as claimed by the bus operators, would affect the smooth issuance of ticket to passengers during the upcoming festive season if the e-ticketing issues are not being tackled immediately. The terminal would be jam packed by users in order to get their tickets and causes severe congestion.

The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) had been instructed to meet with the terminal operator and bus companies to resolve disputes over the issues. Read HERE for more news.

As of now, the wishes of the terminal operator to provide convenience and comfort of the public are yet to be ascertained. Hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon so that all bus companies will start using the facility and the public will gain a lot of benefits from the initiative.

It is already high time for Malaysia to have such a facility with the state-of-the art system.
Hopefully, the 570 million state-of-the-art facility will serve it intended purpose.

Say NO to Plastic Bags

Ruling on “no free plastic bag day” on Saturday at hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas stations nationwide was launched simultaneously in all states recently.


For those who are unaware of the ruling, don't worry, just pay 20 sen for each plastic bag.

For those who are environmentally concern, they are most like well prepared by bringing along reusable grocery bag.

The campaign are expected to reduce significantly the amount of plastic bags and safe the environment.

To totally reduce the amount of plastic bags, all stores nationwide must participate in the effort and the rulings should be practiced everyday. Say NO to Plastic Bags.
 
However, as expected the rulings does not go well with plastic bags factory.

Dangerous Zone: Uncovered Manhole

It seems that the price of metal is peaking up again by looking at the tell tale sign such as missing manhole covers etc. The uncovered manhole poses threat to road users because of untoward accidents could happen at any time. Small children riding their bikes could easily get severe injury if they fall into the manhole. The location of the road with the missing manhole covers is at a popular site leading to a lake in Desa Ilmu.

However those who remove the manhole cover should realize that they are really a menace to the society and they should immediately return the manhole cover to its original position. I am afraid that the manhole cover had reached nearby scrapped metal dealers in exchange for a very tiny amount of money at the expense of the community at large.