Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which is spearheading the Taman Tugu project, has clarified the general breakdown of the estimated RM650 million cost for the project.

The money will cover four components of the project, that is: (1) conserving and activating the park, (2) connecting the surrounding areas, (3) a learning and innovation centre, and the (4) operations, maintenance, partnerships and community development of the park for up to 12 years.

About 15 percent of the costs would go towards the fourth component, while the remaining costs would be split roughly one-thirds for the other three components, Khazanah managing director Azman Mokhtar said today.

"The cost of the trees alone is less than five percent," Azman said, referring to estimated costs for the conservation of the 1,000 existing trees in the area as well as the transplanting of another 5,000 trees.

He said this during the sovereign wealth fund's first public engagement session on the Taman Tugu project in Kuala Lumpur, which aims to turn the 66-acre area surrounding the National Monument (Tugu Negara) into an urban rainforest park.

However, Azman declined to reveal the specific details of the project's cost breakdown.

"The costs breakdown we have given in some details today.

“I ask that we be given some leeway, because when you do contracts... the amount we cannot reveal too much in detail," he said.

During the question-and-answer portion of the engagement session, many participants questioned the priority of building a park over healthcare and education.

Azman (photo) gave his assurance that this project would not diminish Khazanah's commitments to its other corporate social responsibilities.

"While education is important, we feel improving urban life is also important.

"Whatever we're doing here (Taman Tugu) will not cut into that work (education, healthcare)," he pledged.

Azman also explained that there would be infrastructure within the park, which would be generating revenue to sustain the operations and maintenance of the park, such as the food and beverage area that is part of the plan.

"If you look at our track record over the years, I think we have delivered many projects on time, on budget," he added.

'We're not taking away anything'

Khazanah executive director and head of the managing director's office Jiv Sammanthan said they want to build a park that could successfully attract people at all times of the day, every day.

"Once you build a park, it could be empty (or) busy on just Saturday and Sunday mornings.

"The challenge we're trying to deal with is curation, to curate this park to have events and attractions that people would want to join in and use," he said.

Jiv also said that they would not be transplanting trees from other parks or such, and that all 5,000 trees to be planted are being cultivated in nurseries specifically for this purpose.

"We're not taking away anything, we want to add to the greenery.

"There's definitely going to be a net addition of trees by a significant number," he said.

In response to PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli who had questioned whether the Taman Tugu project was a front to raise funds for BN for the 14th general election, Azman said the project would be audited and that they would strive to be transparent to make sure there are no "wastages or nonsense".

Khazanah is said to be funding RM500 million of the total estimated costs and construction of the park is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year.

The project would entail the conservation of 1,000 trees, and the planting of 5,000 more trees indigenous to Malaysian rainforests.

Walkways would also be set up to offer accessibility to the park, including via the Bank Negara KTM Komuter station, and via KL Sentral through several landmarks.

In addition, facilities such as food and beverage stalls, children's play areas, event spaces and educational facilities would be built and opened to public.

Apart from Khazanah, some of the project partners involved include Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (Frim), the Department of Environment and the Malaysian Nature Society.

The project is slated for completion in the year 2020.