THE preservation of the Penang Botanic Gardens and other locations identified and deemed fit to become such a garden that is to be managed under the incorporation is of utmost importance.
In exco member Jagdeep Singh’s proposal speech and during the debate at the recent state assembly proceedings concerning the enactment, he clearly stated that the state government will ensure the preservation of the gardens as its sole objective.
“Besides that, this legislation aims to enhance and improve not only the Penang Botanic Gardens as a whole, but in particular, the management of the said gardens so that it can strive towards inscription by Unesco as a World Heritage Site,” Jagdeed told a press conference at the Penang Botanic Gardens on Nov 29.
Also present was curator for the Penang Botanic Gardens Dr Saw Leng Guan.
“It should be noted that the legislation governing the Gardens from 1923 to 2005, namely the Penang Waterfall Gardens Enactment 1923 (as amended in 2005 and 2010), in fact failed to comprehensively set out the parameters in terms of preserving, protecting, enhancing, upgrading and improving the said Gardens.
“This is a failure on the part of the previous government, which again this present Penang state government will correct,” he added.
In relation to entrance fees, the state government has the plan of having greater products within the Gardens, such as what’s being done at the Singapore Gardens by the Bay, namely the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, which require fees to be paid but whereby they still do not charge entrance fees for usage of the gardens.
As a parting remark, Jagdeep said he welcomed the views of several civil society groups regarding the recent approval of the Penang State Park (Botanic) Corporation Enactment 2017 at the recently concluded Penang State Assembly.
“The proposal for the Enactment will be open for public review by early next year, and we hope it to be gazetted by the first quarter of 2018,” he added.