KUANTAN: It was once the main attraction in Cherating. Now the unkempt cultural village complex is an eyesore.

Built at a cost of RM4 million in 1996, Cherating Cultural Village was a one-stop cultural centre.

There were batik painting and mengkuang weaving demonstrations by local craftsmen, and visitors could see how traditional fabric Tenun Pahang was made.

But over the past few years, it has deteriorated. Last year, it was closed for upgrading by the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK).

The New Straits Times visited the complex and found it abandoned. There were weeds and the compound was littered with construction debris.

An extension to the main building was only partly built, and the yard of the jetty on Sungai Cherating was littered with construction material and sacks of cement.

"It's really sad to see the complex left to rot like this," said a villager who wanted to be known as Ahmad.

Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, MPK received RM1.5 million to upgrade the complex and build the Tourism Information Centre in Cherating.

More than RM10 million was also allocated to upgrade facilities in Kampung Cherating, including roads and sewerage system.

A frequent visitor to Cherating, Mohd Zaki Manan, said he he could not understand why the complex was abandoned after the government had spent so much money on it.

"I was eager to see the facelift, but disappointed to find that only the fence was upgraded," said the salesman from Kemaman.

The 21-year-old said when he was a child, his parents always brought him to the complex to see the cultural activities and traditional crafts.

"They had traditional games like top-spinning, kite-flying, congkak and sepak raga regularly. Sometimes they had wayang kulit shows and traditional dances at the restaurant within the complex," he said.

His wife, Nina Harmiza Zakri, said the upgrading of Kampung Cherating was not properly planned and had spoilt the village's beauty.

"MPK should enhance its beauty, rather than putting 'cosmetic touches' such as the out-of-place gilded lamp-posts along the kampung road."