KUANTAN: The Pahang Government is set to give tourists a feel of the prehistoric era as it mulls over turning the site of a recent Jurassic-era plant fossil find in Kota Gelanggi, Jerantut into a tourist attraction.
State culture and tourism committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin said however, the move would only be taken after the committee received a full report on the discovery of the fossil, believed to date back to between 146 million and 200 million years.
“If it is truly a plant fossil, I will also suggest to the state government to conserve the forest and vicinity of the discovery site to be made into a tourist attraction.
“We don’t want the tourists to visit for merely one or two days...instead, we want them to stay on longer for the benefit of the villagers there,” he told reporters after closing the ‘Kuantan Windsurfing and Kitesurfing Challenge 2015’ at Pantai Batu Hitam here today.
Mohd Sharkar said the state government needed to look into the commercial value if the place were to be set as a tourist attraction location.
Therefore, the plan could not be hatched in a rush, he noted. -- Bernama