PUTRAJAYA, March 13 — Putrajaya will be developed into an international recreational city apart from being known as the country’s administrative centre, said Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
He said that the Federal Territories Ministry would have discussions with the private sector and the Putrajaya Corporation (PPj) to further develop Putrajaya for the next 25 years, so that more activities and business opportunities would be created for local traders and the community to generate income.
“I have asked PPj not only to make improvements to the existing tourist attractions but also to think of other attractions including innovative tourism products in order to attract more visitors to Putrajaya,” he told the media after a walkabout to Anjung Floria here, today.
He said Anjung Floria in Presint 4, which was previously the site for the Royal Putrajaya International Flower and Garden Festival (FLORIA), would be turned into a centre for recreational activities known as Pit-Stop@Anjung Floria, which would be equipped with various facilities.
“It includes sites for expo, sales, plant nursery, rickshaw village, bicycle and kayak rental, remote control (RC), cruises, boats, sandy beaches and cafes. These efforts can support the consolidation of Putrajaya as a tourist destination as well as a recreational city,” he said.
He said that the site’s strategic location in terms of its distance to the Putrajaya Lake shoreline, urban cycle path, lakeside cycling and pedestrian paths well as cruise routes, had been identified to be developed as a stopover for visitors carrying out leisure activities around Putrajaya.
He said that to make it even more interesting, this area was set against the backdrop of the Putrajaya lake and several iconic buildings such as the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque and the Saujana Bridge.
Annuar said that Putrajaya’s unique feature is being very active on weekdays but becoming quiet in the evenings, so economic opportunities needed to be created by increasing activities so that more visitors stayed two or more nights in Putrajaya, which would indirectly encourage spending and open up opportunities for the local community to generate income.
Apart from that, he said that Putrajaya’s current population is less than 100,000 and various efforts needed to be made to attract more people to live here which should boast between 200,000 and 300,000 residents.
“The tourism industry needs planning but the control aspect needs to be there because we don’t want the Putrajaya concept to be affected and to end up busy just like other cities. Our goal is that Putrajaya cannot just be an administrative centre but must be a sustainable city at the same time, with its own unique style of living,” he said.
He said that co-operation between the state government and embassies of other countries could also be implemented by bringing in replicas or mini gardens.
During the ceremony, Annuar also planted a raja kayu tree in conjunction with the One Million Trees Planting Campaign in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, which is one of the ‘Cakna Kehijauan’ programmes under the ‘Wilayah Prihatin’ initiative, which is also in line with the Go Green programme.
More than 100,000 trees will be planted in Putrajaya under the campaign. Apart from the raja kayu, others include merbau, merawan, pulai, meranti and the golden chain trees with the golden-yellow flowers hanging from branches which are synonymous with Putrajaya, as well as flowering trees including flame of the forest and tacoma.
Thus far, Putrajaya, which is developed with the concept of the City in the Garden, boasts more than 700,000 trees of various types and species, undoubtedly, a huge part of its tourist attraction. — Bernama
