Huge botanical garden in the pipeline

To be spread over 400 hectares in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, it will serve as a conservation centre, a research centre and a recreational park

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia will develop a 400-hectare national botanical garden in Sungai Buloh at a cost of RM190 million (S$88 million), Agriculture Minister Datuk Dr Effendi Norwawi said.

He said work on the project in Selangor, to be executed by his ministry through the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Authority (Mardi), would start next year and was expected to be over in five years.

The minister said the Cabinet had already given its approval to the project.

'This world-class project, when completed, will be handled by Mardi as it has expertise in research,' he said.

Malaysia has 15,000 species of flowering plants, 286 species of animals, 50,000 species of flora and fauna, and 12,000 species of butterflies and other insects.

The minister said that the proposed botanical garden would be a conservation centre, a research centre for various biotechnology products as well as a vital recreational park.

He said the garden would be able to attract foreign tourists because Malaysia had been recognised as one of the 12 countries very rich in biodiversity.

The minister said the garden would open to the public two years later.

'We will apply to the Selangor state government so that the site identified for the garden is transferred to the federal government as soon as possible for implementation of the project,' he said.

Among the activities to be carried out at the botanical garden would be scientific, economic, educational and public programmes, he added. --Bernama