BANGKA – Encouraging underwater tourism on Serangan Beach and Island. PT Timah Tbk, PT Timah Tbk together with Pokdarwis and HKM Penyesuk Indah and the Sayang Babel Foundation, have created a Coral Garden.
This Coral Garden is an effort of this TINS Coded Issuer to support underwater tourism, where it is known in the Putri Island area that many tourists snorkel, so the existence of this coral garden is a special attraction and makes an interesting photo spot.
Drowning of the Coral Garden was carried out in the Putri Island area, last Monday (22/11/2021), which involved various stakeholders and the local community.
Lecturer of Marine and Fisheries at Bangka Belitung University, Indra Ambalika, said the coral garden made in the Putri Island area is in the form of a serving hood, so that later tourists can see the corals in the form of a serving hood.
“Tourists will no longer need to dive to see the corals, because just by snorkelling, they can already see the coral garden. Yesterday, what we designed had the words TIMAH written on it and then it was surrounded by iron in the form of a serving hood, which will later be plastered with coral,” he said.
"The corals that will stick are natural corals taken from PT Timah Tbk's marine reclamation program by sinking artificial reefs," said Indra Ambalika, who is also the chairman of the Sayang Babel Foundation.
He explained, this coral garden is an underwater ornamental that was deliberately formed with the concept of a marine park. According to Indra, this has been developed in several areas such as in Bali to support underwater tourism.
“This is the first time we doing this with PT Timah Tbk, where we also involve the community around the implant in the manufacturing process, including submerging the iron to form a coral garden. Later we will monitor the coral growth rate,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Head of HKM Susuk Indah, Akli said that his group was enthusiastic about the coral garden program implemented by PT Timah Tbk, because this would form a new tourist attraction for visitors.
He said that currently there are many people snorkeling on Putri Island, usually seeing various types of fish such as nemo and others. With this coral garden, it provides something new and beautifies underwater tourism.
“This will provide added value for underwater tourism, where our friends are also involved in making this. Later on, tourists can see coral reefs, now on weekends many people come to Putri Island," he said.
According to him, not only this time, PT Timah Tbk together with the University of Bangka Belitung have also often drowned coral reefs in the coastal area at Penyusuk beach.
"PT Timah Tbk together with UBB have drowned the coral reefs here, where there are UBB students who dive and there are fish, with these coral reefs," he said.
In addition to supporting underwater tourism, according to him, PT Timah Tbk has also helped the development of Penyusuk Beach such as making gazebos, toilets and clean water facilities for visitors.
"Not only on Putri island, on land at Penyusuk beach PT Timah Tbk also helps build toilets, gazebos and clean water. Of course this helps us in developing tourism,” he said.
Meanwhile, Belinyu Syarli Nopriansyah sub-district head appreciated PT Timah Tbk for developing underwater tourism. He said Putri Island and Penyusuk Beach were one of the priority tourist destinations in Bangka Regency.
"We appreciate PT Timah Tbk, hopefully this kind of activity is sustainable as a form of attention for underwater tourism, namely on Putri Island," he said.
In the future, he hopes that not only underwater tourism will be a concern but also on Putri Island itself because it has not been touched much, especially regarding the need for clean water.
"By working together on Putri Island, hopefully it will become a tourist icon in Bangka, if in Belitung there is Lengkuas Island, hopefully in Bangka Regency there will be Putri Island. We also hope that there will be guidance for human resources so that the community can be ready to receive guests," he said. (**)
