Kota Kinabalu City Hall should open up new gardens and parks instead of merely starting a Botanical Garden at Taman Tun Fuad Stephens at Luyang because the fast growing population of Kota Kinabalu needs more parks and open spaces and not merely turning a park into a botanical garden. What Taman Tun Fuad Stephens needs is an upgrading of its park that hundreds of KK residents visit on a daily basis. It is arguable whether it is a wise use of public funds amounting to RM20 million to put a botanical garden in an existing public park.
In fact, a basic botanical garden was started at the open space adjoining the Government Printing Department building site at Mile 2 ½, Tuaran Road in 1997. That botanical garden was the inception of a bigger Likas Green Belt that stretches from the Government Printing Department building site to the Sports Complex and to the Bird Park and Likas Lagoons along the Coastal Highway at Likas Bay. As a start in 1997, the foundation of a botanical garden was launched at the open space adjoining the Government Printing Department building site.
Granted that such major recreational parks complete with cycling and jogging tracks can take years to develop and mature, it is now overdue that the Government should implement the Likas Green Belt. Ideas for this green zone are contained in the earlier literature about the Likas Bird Park (now known as KK Wetlands).
Therefore, I call on the Mayor of Kota Kinabalu City to implement the Likas Green Belt. If need be, the proposed Botanical Garden can be sited at the Likas Green Belt.
I also urge the Mayor to make sure that “Town Hall Sessions” like what took place last Saturday will involve more KK residents, especially rate payers, so that the town hall sessions can be more effectively in getting public feedback and suggestions on how to improve Kota Kinabalu as a vibrant city.
Datuk Yong Teck Lee
Kota Kinabalu resident
Ex-Likas assemblyman
Kota Kinabalu, Monday, 27 August 2019