WORK on the RM308 million Sarawak Museum Campus and Heritage Trail in Kuching was forced to stop after the state Health Department sealed and declared the project site a dengue outbreak area.

This follows nine people taking ill with the mosquito-borne illness since Monday. They had lived and worked in and around the project site.

State Health Director Dr Jamilah Hashim said the nine comprised six project workers and three members of the public.

The area was sealed under Section 8(3)(a) of the Destruction of Disease-Bearing Insects Act 1975 (Amendment 2000) for vectoring work.

The Borneo Post reported that the department had already issued five compounds and were in the process of issuing another six against the project developer, PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd.

Even after the outbreak was declared on September 9, a site check found 11 Aedes mosquito breeding spots.

Another check on September 20 found there were still Aedes mosquito breeding spots at the site, she said.

The one-week closure was ordered to enable the developer to clean up the area and destroy mosquito breeding grounds.

The 126-year-old Sarawak Museum is one of Kuching’s major landmarks.

Built in 1891 by the second Sarawak White Rajah Sir Charles Brooke, it has been cited as one of the most comprehensive archaeological, natural history and ethnographic collections in Borneo with more than 200,000 artefacts on display.

The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2020. – September 26, 2018.