PUTRAJAYA: The 2018 Royal Floria Putrajaya will be open to public tomorrow (Saturday) until Sept 2 at Anjung Floria here at Presint 4.
The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharifuddin Idris Shah will be gracing the launching of the event tomorrow, along with Tengku Permaisuri Selangor, Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is also expected to attend the event.
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad said the 10th edition of the event would continue to promote Putrajaya as a ‘city in a park’ and ‘flora city’, maintaining the nation’s administrative capital on the world map as the host of various international programmes.
He said the event, despite being be scaled down due to cost-cutting measures, still received overwhelming participation from various countries.
“This year’s budget is only RM3 million or 70 per cent of (event budget) in previous years.
“Financially, the event may not be seen as directly generating income (for the country). Aspects such as media coverage, tourist attraction and indirect income will be difficult to evaluate.
“The Floria has been hosted for years and the foundation for the programme is already there. If we stop it, we will lose the foundation,” he told reporters at the soft launch here today.
Khalid said some one million visitors were expected to attend the event themed “10 Floria’s Glory”, which combined the themes from the 2007 and 2016 Floria events in conjunction with the 10th edition as well as the Merdeka celebration.
The highlights this year include the Royal Garden, Designer Garden, “The Magic of Bonsai & Suiseki”, Terrarium “Tropical Magic in the Glass” and the Musical Garden; Tea Party Garden, Cat Pavilion, Floral pavilion as well as Garden Bazaar and Horticulture Market.
He said this year’s exhibition would see the participation of nine countries including Singapore, Japan, China, Germany and Korea.
The Royal Floria Putrajaya will be open to the public 9am to 10.30pm.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the opening hours are extended from 9am to midnight.
Entry tickets can also be purchased at website www.floriaputrajaya.com.my.