Tuesday May 14, 2013

Nature Interpretive Centre educates visitors on importance of wetlands

By OH ING YEEN
ingyeen@thestar.com.my

Enlightening: Photographs lining the walls of the centre are labelled so visitors can admire the beauty of the wetlands and learn at the same time.

DID you know that the Putrajaya Wetlands is the first and largest man-made wetlands in Malaysia?

Learn about this and more at the Nature Interpretive Centre (NIC) in Precinct 13, Putrajaya.

According to Putrajaya Corpo-ration Landscape and Parks Department deputy director Haslinda Khalid, the NIC is a centre for reference and serves to educate visitors on the importance of wetlands.

“We have engaged wetlands specialists to provide us information for the exhibition.

“We aim to be world-class and to provide professional customer service,” she said.

Launched last year, the centre has three floors of exhibition areas.

The main one is located on the ground floor and is divided into eight zones to educate visitors on the importance of lakes and wetlands.

On the lower ground floor, visitors can watch a documentary on wetlands on a 240° screen in the miniplex.

On the first floor is a library stocked with books and magazines related to wetlands and the environment.

There is also an education/entertainment section which features software programmes and activities.

Of the 1,535,000 people who visited Putrajaya parks last year, 120,000 visited the Putrajaya Wetlands.

It is hoped that the number of visitors will increase with the set-up of the NIC.

“We have visitors from Singapore, India, South Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia.

“Apart from tourists, the centre has also attracted local and foreign students as well as researchers,” Haslinda said.

The spacious centre has also been chosen as a venue for company training and talks.

“With the support of Putrajaya Corporation president Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat, who encouraged us to make this venue a vibrant place, we hope visitors can make full use of this place and not just walk through and complete the visit in 15 minutes.

“We also want people to make use of the parks,” said Haslinda.

She added that the corporation had written to many schools, informing them of the NIC and inviting them to visit.

“We hope visitors can include the NIC in their itinerary when they visit Putrajaya,” she said.

The centre is open daily, except on Mondays, when it is closed for weekly maintenance.

Opening hours are between 9am and 5pm, and between 8.30am and 5.30pm on weekends and public holidays.

Entrance is free for now but a fee will be imposed in the future. For details, send your queries to nicputrajaya@ppj.gov.my

Source:

News

Tuesday May 14, 2013

Nature Interpretive Centre educates visitors on importance of wetlands

By OH ING YEEN ingyeen@thestar.com.my

Source:

By OH ING YEEN
ingyeen@thestar.com.my