A Way from the hustle and bustle of the city, two beautiful hamlets are nestled near the tip of the westernmost part of the Land of the Hornbills. Kampung Teluk Melano and the neighbouring Kampung Teluk Serabang are deemed unique, not only among tourists, but also among Sarawakians since both fishing villages are only accessible from the sea.
Tourists, nature lovers and explorers keen to be serenaded by the beautiful view of the beach surrounding the villages are required to endure a two-hour long journey by road from Kuching to Sematan in Lundu before taking a 40-minute boat ride to the villages.
The journey maybe a little taxing but worth the while, especially after being greeted with warmth and hospitality, traits famously known when referring to some 300 people residing at the two villages.
Behind the mask of their cheery smiles, the residents suppressed woes and difficulty of eking out a living in an area where there is a lack of basic infrastructure, including proper road connectivity.
The villagers, as a result, are saddled with the high cost of living due to the unavailability of proper roads to link the villages to Sematan town.
The villagers, who are mostly fishermen and farmers, have to fork out extra money to stock food items and other necessities since facilities between the two villages are limited with only a wooden school and a humble pondok polis (police beat base).
Kampung Teluk Serabang village head Minhad Fauzan said traders were forced to hike the price of items sold at their shop to fund the costs incurred in bringing the stocks from Sematan town to the housing estate via sea.
“Of course, like other consumers we have reservations upon seeing the price tags of these items, which on most occasions, are higher compared with the nearest town.
“We are left with no choice but to purchase the items. For instance, the price of petrol at the village is relatively high compared with the current market price.
“As there are no other cheaper options, we will just purchase the petrol since we need it to run our generators for electricity or to fuel our boats for fishing,” he said.
Minhad said villagers spent between RM350 and RM400 a month to fuel up to six hours of the generators for electricity.
The situation worsens during the rainy season since boat operators will temporarily stop fishing due to rough seas.
To survive, the villagers, would instead stock their items by visiting a market near the Kalimantan-Sarawak border, which is about two kilometres away from their housing villages.
However, all this will soon be a thing of the past when a road project, a 32.7km single carriageway linking Teluk Melano and Sematan, is completed in three years.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak officiated the groundbreaking for the RM700 million road project last week. It is one of the components under the multibillion ringgit Pan Borneo Highway initiative that will transform the state.
Minhad, who attended the ground-breaking ceremony in Sematan, heaved a long sigh of relief.
His relief was shared by Sematan chieftain Olddie Mid, who had been getting complaints from villagers of Kampung Teluk Melano and Kampung Teluk Serabong on the lack of infrastructure.
“Our prayers have been answered and finally the wait is over. We heard about the project for many years and recently the prime minister came to Sematan to realise our wishes for a proper road.
“I am grateful to the prime minister, the chief minister and governments at both level,” an elated Olddie said.
While efforts to connect these villages posed a great challenge and required billions in allocation, the federal and state administrations are not sparing any efforts to honour the wishes of Sarawakians.
And, the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway, with a whopping allocation of more than RM15 billion, has brought substance to the promises made by the Federal Government to the people in the state.
The writer is Sarawak bureau chief