The Taman Tugu project aims to create a rainforest park by conserving an existing 26.7-hectare secondary forest located behind the Tugu Negara (National Monument) and the Istana Selangor (Selangor Palace).
Kuala Lumpur may soon be in the league of New York and London with its own version of Central Park and Hyde Park respectively when Taman Tugu (Tugu Park) is completed in mid-2018.
The Taman Tugu project aims to create a rainforest park by conserving an existing 26.7-hectare secondary forest located behind the Tugu Negara (National Monument) and the Istana Selangor (Selangor Palace).
Spearheading the project is Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Malaysia, in collaboration with Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and supported by various stakeholders, including the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society.
Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak hopes Taman Tugu will be “synonymous with Kuala Lumpur bearing the status of a global city” like Central Park is synonymous with New York and Hyde Park with London.
The project, touted as a ‘public-private-civil society partnership’, is estimated to cost RM650 million (US$159 million). Khazanah Nasional will foot RM500 million of the bill on a not-for-profit and corporate social responsibility basis, said its managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar,
Azman added the project would see the regeneration of about 1,000 trees in the existing rainforest area surrounding Tugu Negara, as well as the planting of 5,000 more trees.
The park will also feature facilities in several zones revolving around the environment, recreation and learning, including a rainforest information centre, camping site, canopy walks, zip lines, a water park, walkways and bicycle lanes, sightseeing platforms and F&B shops.
The project, which will be fully completed by 2020, will also provide safer and better connectivity for pedestrians as walkways will link the park to the KL Sentral transport hub.
The government has also approved the plan to place Taman Tugu under a public trust in perpetuity to preserve it as a green lung so future generations of Malaysians will be able to enjoy it.
Khazanah is inviting the public to send feedback on the park, such as its name and activities, through its official website www.tamantugu.com.my