SPECIAL REPORT: DREAMING OF PERAK'S TAIPING LAKE GARDENS

THE 126-year-old Taiping Lake Gardens in Perak attracts people from near and far to its lush and serene grounds daily, refreshing visitors with its warm and welcoming embrace. Hovering branches of the gigantic 130-year-old rain trees seem to wave to everyone who walks or passes under their thick green foliage. SJ ECHO took a drive around the park last week and met up with the Taiping Municipal Council to find out a little bit more about what makes the 96.44ha (238.32 acres) park thrive.

THE serenity and peace that exudes from just being beneath the giant rain trees that have for as long as we can remember become the living monuments of Taiping Lake Gardens is something one has to experience to fully understand and feel.
It was this feeling that brought us to the doorstep of the Taiping Municipal Council to find out a little bit more about the lake and how the local authority has managed to safeguard the integrity of the vast land and water area amidst all the development within and just around it.
Sharing a little flashback in time, the Taiping Lake Gardens was developed in 1884. It was officially opened to the public in 1893 when Sir Frank Swettenham, the British Resident in Perak launched it.
It was Swettenham’s wife, Contance Sydney Holmes who together with William Scott (a mining inspector) and prison workers who developed and transformed the former mining area into the lake we see today.
Last week (December 30 2009), we met up with Taiping Municipal Council Town Planning Department director Norsiah Din to find out more about the enchanting and beautifully kept lake.
“The park was originally 61.93ha (152.97 acres) but the area was expanded through the years to what it is today - 96.44ha (238.32 acres).”
“The whole area is under the care of the Municipal Council,” she said.
According to Norsiah, Taiping Lake Gardens was a regular destination for recreation.
“Visitors come here all the time be it in the morning or in the evening. Taiping Zoo which is located within the lake gardens recorded 635,967 visitors in 2008. We recorded 56,973 visitors in January 2009.”
“Our jogging paths criss-cross the grounds and also along the peripheres of the park by the roadside,” she added.
Traffic flow comes mainly from Kamunting (the road from Kamunting passes through the Taiping Prison, Taiping Lake Gardens and Taiping Zoo) leading into Taiping town itself.
Norsiah said the Municipal Council wanted to bring the lake gardens back to the old days and if possible to recapture the original environment of the lake gardens when it was first established.
“Many of the trees here are more than 130 years old. We care for them and also infuse more landscaping into the urban environment,” she said, adding that landscaping does not only mean having more coloured trees and plants.

There are two hotels at the edge of the garden grounds – Hotel Seri Malaysia and the newly opened Flemington Hotel which has more than 100 rooms. The Taiping Zoo is located within the gardens while housing areas line the boundaries of the park.
And we had to ask Norsiah to give us an idea of how much the council spends annually on maintaining the park.
“We spend less than RM500,000 annually to maintain the park. The amount is spent on grass-cutting, tree pruning and repairing damaged infrastructure like park benches,” she said.

On a pair of free-flying hornbills nesting on one of the rain trees by the road side, Norsiah said they were “escapees” from the Zoo but the council had decided to let them be.
“We decided to let them be and see if they can breed out on their own. Who knows? We might have a flock of them in the future free-flying around the lake gardens,” she said.
Norsiah said the Taiping Municipal Council was willing to share its experience with its counterparts in Subang Jaya on how it manages the lake gardens and carries out its landscaping.

Can Taman Subang Ria be transformed into a mini-Taiping Lake Gardens?

The question that pops in our mind after the visit up north is whether our own Taman Subang Ria can become a mini-Taiping Lake Gardens.
Judging by the remarkable way in which the Taiping Lake Gardens has been transformed into and maintained, there is no doubt that Taman Subang Ria, which is a third the land area of the the lake gardens can be transformed into one for all to enjoy and benefit from.
But can this dream materialise?
In August last year, Sime Darby Property managing director Dato' Tunku Putra Badlishah was quoted as saying that Taman Subang Ria will be upgraded into a top-notch recreation park before being handed over to the Subang Jaya Municipal Council, if fresh proposals by SDPB are given the nod to proceed. This facelift is estimated to cost between RM15mil to RM20mil.
The upgrading work would include building jogging tracks, walkways, bicycle tracks, car park, exercise stations, kids play area, access road, joggers resting point, follies, security monitoring, CCTV, water treatment, pond embankment, dry swale, boundary approach, park direction signage, toilets, night lighting and the amphitheatre.
Alas, this dream to ever have a top-notch functioning park may never materialize if a win-win scenario between Sime Darby Property and certain residents groups does not come through.
The State Government cannot afford to spend money to acquire the land. The Subang Jaya Municipal Council cannot step in to use public funds to maintain or upgrade private land.
So the dream to have a park within a stone’s throw may just remain a dream.
Perhaps the only way of enjoying a good stroll in a park for Subang Jaya residents will be to drive two and a half hours up north and walk along the paths and trails of the Taiping Lake Gardens?