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Kuching receives the prestigious World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director’s Award for its excellent record in improving the quality of life.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION... Taib (3rd right), with both mayors of the Kuching City councils, Madehi (3rd left) and Chan (2nd right) displaying the WHO's awards plaque. Looking on (from left to right) are Bolhassan, Andrew Kiyu and Yap.
Photograph: Ramidi Subari (Sarawak Tribune - 10 December 2004)

KUCHING – The city of Kuching is one of the two cities in the Asia-Pacific region conferred the prestigious Regional Director’s Award by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday for its excellent record in improving the residents’ quality of life.

The other city which won similar award is Illawara in Australia.

WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Dr Shigeru Omi, presented the award to Kuching’s two mayors – Chan Seng Khai of Kuching City South and Madehi Kolek of Kuching City North, during the inaugural General Assembly of the Alliance for Healthy Cities, in a leading hotel, here.

The Healthy Cities approach, conceptualised by the WHO in the mid-1980s, aims to improve the quality of life in urban areas. Since 1996, cities in many countries have set up Healthy Cities projects putting health at the centre of urban development.

According to the synopsis of the award, Kuching and fellow winner Illawara in Australia, have shown a long-standing track record in sustained improvement in the overall quality of life of its citizens using the Healthy Cities approach.

Earlier, during the opening ceremony of the General Assembly, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Dr Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud said the Healthy City concept was adopted by the State government if 1994 in tandem with efforts to make Kuching a very liveable city.

“We believe that the application of the Healthy City concept is relevant and timely, as Kuching is still a small developing city and relatively free from most of the common ills experienced by other cities in the world,” he said.

Taib’s text of speech was read by the Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr George Chan, Who also the Minister of Industrial Development of Agriculture.

Taib added that the Healthy City Concept had become the guideline in urban planning and development in Kuching City as well as other towns in Sarawak, and had also influenced decisions such as provision of motorcycle lanes, gazzettement of parks and green areas, and enactment of various relevant Acts and Regulations.

“In comparison to many other cities, Kuching has a relatively low density development with plenty of open spaces and green areas. Most development in Kuching has a density of not more than 20 units per hectare with not many high-rise buildings,” he said.

Also, as part of the plan to avoid concentration of industrialisation process in Kuching, the industrial development in Sarawak is physically distributed in all the towns throughout Sarawak, so that each town has its own niche industry.

“For example, Sibu will be known for shipbuilding industry, Bintulu for heavy industries, and Miri for tourism,” he said, adding that this move would mitigate and solve the negative impacts of industrialisation, such as degradation to the environment, and mass migration of people attracted to employment and business opportunities in towns.

More than 400 delegates representing participating cities and towns in China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Australia and Malaysia attended the three-day conference.

Forty scientific and working papers are being tabled, while field visits, including to South East Asia’s first urban ecological sanitation pilot system in Hui Sing Garden, Kuching was also arranged for the delegates.