BAGAN DATUK: Bagan Datuk will have a new landmark with the construction of a resort which is expected to be ready by 2020, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He said Bagan Datuk would serve as the most advanced district in Perak as a tribute to the Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah who had declared Bagan Datuk as the state’s 12th district in January 2017.
Zahid said the construction of Teedo Resort near the Bagan Datuk town at a cost of about RM75 million would not use the government’s money but it would be funded by a private company, Al-Falah Foundation and would be operated by Nour Hotel & Resorts.
“For your information, the construction of this hotel will be done without a single sen of the government money, even the land and infrastructure will be financed 100 per cent by the private sector.
“When the private sector is involved in the construction and management of the hotel with several commercial premises to be built, it is in line with the goal to making Bagan Datuk as a tourist destination,” he said at the ground-breaking ceremony for the resort.
Also present were Zahid’s wife Datin Seri Hamidah Khamis and their daughter, Datuk Nurulhidayah, who is Nour Hotel & Resorts managing director.
It is understood that the resort will house a commercial zone, shopping centre, restaurants, theme park and Maahad Tahfiz Al-Ridzuan, with a total gross development cost of about RM250 million on a 60ha piece of land.
Zahid, who is Bagan Datuk member of parliament, said public investment needed to be tied up with private investment to develop an area, as well as to support and spur the development that had been planned by the government.
“This is not just to develop the economy of Bagan Datuk but to welcome back the young people of Bagan Datuk, who are working outside the district, to come home and work here.
“So, I call on Bagan Datuk children, to please come back and help the parents, help the village and help develop Bagan Datuk,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nurulhidayah in her speech said the construction of the resort was the first of its kind in the Hilir Perak district and the Bagan Datuk parliamentary constituency.
She said the resort would have 150 rooms and 100 chalet pods, three seminar rooms, exclusive shops, a main hall that could seat 500 people, gymnasium and swimming pool.
“This resort will provide business and job opportunities to the Bagan Datuk residents,” she said. - BERNAMA