Is Our Urban Forest Park at Risk of Being Abandoned?

TONGUES are wagging over the status of the Urban Forest Park at USJ3C which was to have been completed in April 2018. Eighteen months down the road there are no signs that it will be launched and opened to the public soon.

Has the park been officially launched and is it open to the public? Members of the public are in the dark and have been asking these questions. Clearly no one knows when they can put on their jogging shoes and start exercising at the park.

There are no signs of activity at the park safe for some maintenance workers and the occasional brave resident who can’t resist checking out the park.

The RM2.84mil Park covers an area of 7.86 acres. The new Park was to have an amphitheater and plaza; jogging track; parcourse station; nature play park; walkboard; forest garden; wall climbing; open lawn; reflexology path; mountain bike trail, parking facilities; children’s playground; toilets and shelters. Fifty species of trees and flowering plants and herbs were to be planted in the Park which is expected to feature a total of 3,960 trees when fully planted.

Visually, the park looks ready but is it? What’s the reason for the delay? Neighbourhoods adjacent to the park have complained that their perimeter fencing has been vandalized by unknown persons to gain access to their housing area. They claim these unknown persons are suspected to have burglarised some homes in their neighbourhood.

Asking around, we discovered that not many people actually know the actual status of the park. Some sources have indicated that the park has no water supply and that could be the cause of the delay. Another source said there could be a dispute between the contractor and MPSJ.

Whichever reason it may be, residents want the park up and running. Tax payer’s money has been spent to develop the park and there isn’t any excuse for the long overdue opening of the park.

This is the only public park in USJ and everyone’s looking forward to using it. Let us not delay it anymore. Perhaps it’s officially open but someone forgot to inform us?