Wednesday June 20, 2012

Herb garden in the city

By CHOONG MEK ZHIN
mekzhin@thestar.com.my Photo by KIMBERLY YEO

THE Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Local Agenda 21 (LA21) initiative marked a first over the weekend where the authorities, private sector and locals pooled their resources to launch the community-based Sungai Midah Herb Garden in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur recently.

Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib who officiated at the launch hoped that the project could become a model for other similar ones under LA21.

“All three stakeholders involved played their own roles.

“DBKL did the groundwork and handled the logistics whereas the public sector was largely responsible for donating the trees and funds.

Greening Mother Earth: Phesal (centre) planting a herb tree in the Sungai Midah Herb Garden alongside Lions Club’s Lau Teng Chye (right).

“As for the community and NGOs, they put in the time to take care of this place,” he said.

Phesal added that herb gardens in the Perdana Botanical Garden and Jalan Bellamy were run entirely by DBKL.

He urged the public to act responsibly in the garden and take care of it.

“We can build all kinds of amenities for the people but if the public do not respond positively then it is just a waste of resources,” he said.

Under the project, various traditional herbal plants and fruit trees will be planted in four sections along the 2km walk that starts from the PPR Raya Permai and ends at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

“This will also contribute to the 30,000 trees targeted for planting this year under the NKEA Great KL/KV initiative,” he said.

DBKL deputy socio-economy development director-general Datuk Amin Nordin Abd Aziz, who is also the project’s chief co-ordinator, said they would suggest adding facilities such as a recreational area and graffiti wall in the area.

He added that the project had been two years in the making.

Among the objectives of the project are to instil environmental awareness among the locals and educate them on the qualities of local plants.

A total of 22 partners, including 13 new ones who signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the garden’s launch, took part in the project.