|
|
Pulau
Bidong, once home to a Vietnamese refugee camp, will be turned
into a maritime research centre by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
(UMT).
UMT vice-chancellor Prof Dr Aziz Deraman said the abundance of
flora and fauna found at the island was an appropriate base for
the university to conduct research.
He said UMT’s rehabilitation effort to revive the green lung areas
on the island had been successful.
“We have been carrying out continuous work to revive the island’s
greenery, with the expertise of our horticulturists,” he said.
Prof Aziz said university officials had been assigned to identify
and tag the species of trees on the island.
“Once the assignment is completed, Pulau Bidong will be ready to
be our research base as well as a place to organise study tours,”
he added.
Prof Aziz said the university had allocated RM3mil for the setting
up of basic infrastructure facilities.
This, he said included the construction of jetty and laboratories
at the island.
The university has outlined the necessary measures to protect the
environment during construction work.
Meanwhile, Prof Aziz said UMT was also in the midst of renovating
its campus facilities to meet the requirements of the expanding
student enrolment.
Apart from this, he added that the university was also completing
other facilities and building several new faculties, at the cost
of RM340mil.
The new buildings under construction are for the agro-technology
and food science faculty, maritime and marine science faculty,
aquaculture institute, oceanography institute and marine
biotechnology institute. |
