An artist’s impression of the proposed Bakun Sailing and Rowing Club.

KUCHING: The state government has plans for Bakun Lake to be turned into a water sports centre of excellence for Sarawak, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing revealed.

Besides powering up Sarawak, he opined that Bakun Lake can take on the role of water sports, tourism and cultural hub of the central region when the reservoir is connected to the rest of Sarawak very soon.

“With a surface area of 675 sq km, and being one of the largest reservoirs in Sarawak, the prospect of opening up Bakun Lake for sailing, windsurfing, amusement park and theme park is now possible.

“Because of this, the planning for the area has been mooted, thinking caps have been put on and planning is underway,” he said in a statement yesterday.

As time and careful planning are required for the development of Bakun Lake into a tourist attraction, he said a long-term sustainability of the whole development shall take precedence.

“Bakun Dam is an important asset to Sarawak and the government will also need to look at demarcating the area into clusters of restricted and regulated areas and tourism sites as well,” he added.

He pointed out that besides basic infrastructure development such as jetties and basic amenities, the planning and development will need to take into consideration environmental and cultural sustainable aspect for it to be a truly socially-inclusive tourism development.

“The long-term objective of the government is to develop the area in manners where local communities can participate and benefit from these tourism activities.

“Because of that, the development will be divided into smaller and feasible phases which allow time for capacity building of communities living around the lake, and help them to take part in the tourism value chain and for the purpose, the Bakun Lake Sailing and Rowing Club will be registered,” he said.