'Noh way that botanical garden land will be sold'

The Selangor government has no intention of selling land in the Shah Alam National Botanical Garden, as a federal minister has claimed.

"Pakatan Rakyat is not going to sell even one inch of the forest reserve there... this is slander," said Elizabeth Wong (left), commenting on a claim by Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar than 100 acres of land would be sold.

Wong, who heads the tourism, consumer affairs and environment portfolio, noted that the state government has increased the area under forest reserves after Pakatan took over in 2008.

Bernama had quoted Noh as saying that the federal government has objected to the Selangor government's proposal to ‘take over the botanical garden’, formerly known as the Bukit Cerakah Agricultural Park.

"I have been informed that the Selangor government is in the process of taking over the botanical garden management ... on the pretext that the allocation (from) the federal government to develop the park was insufficient," he had claimed.

Noh (right) had alleged that, should the takeover proceed, the state government would sell 100 acres of the land to generate RM100 million to operate the park.

He further urged the state government to sign a 60-year lease agreement to enable his ministry to develop and manage the botanical garden, as the ministry has allocated about RM161 million to turn it into a national agro-tourism centre.

Inadequate federal funding

Wong clarified that while the state government has signed a memorandum with the federal government, it has not signed a contractual agreement because it was wary about the federal government's commitment.

She also said the botanical garden iwas already being managed by the state government.

The state government "was promised hundreds of millions years ago" by the BN-ruled federal government that the botanical garden would be developed.

However, the allocation received till not was far from what had been pledged, she said.

"We want to see proof, like stating the allocation in the national budget... we want a win-win situation with the ministry," she said, adding that amicable discussions were under way with ministry officials.

"We also appeal to the Tourism Ministry to give adequate attention and allocations to develop it into a world-class botanical garden."

Wong was speaking after officiating the state-level international Earth Hour campaign at the state secretariat in Shah Alam today.