Sri Lanka's first-ever botanical gardens in the dry zone, soon to be the
largest in the island, is now being developed at a 300-acre site at
Mirijjawila, Hambantota.
On the Suriyawewa-Hambantota Road, the Gardens is aimed at conserving
the massive green patch and bio diversity in the area, according to
National Botanical Gardens Department Director General Dr. Cyril
Wijesundara.
He told the Business Times that this space will be like Central Park
in New York, on completion, and pave the way to attract both domestic
and foreign tourists to this southern town, fast turning out to be a hub
of the south with the development of air and seaports and other
facilities.
This is the country's first new botanical
gardens built in Sri Lanka in 130 years after the Senarathgoda Garden in
Gampaha in 1876, and the Peradeniya Gardens long before that.
The first phase of the Hambantota project will
be completed in November this year at a cost of Rs.500 million.
Construction work of the internal roads underground pipe lines,
irrigation canals and plant nurseries has been completed and the
planting of trees like burutha (Burma teak), domba, ehela, gammalu, hal
milla, helamba ingini, kaluwara, khomba, kon, kottamba, etc is now
underway.The park will be opened to the general public next year. The
main purpose of the new gardens is to showcase dry and arid zone plants
(ex-situ conservation). The garden will also provide opportunities for
ecotourism and economic development in the area and model dry zone
landscape improvement.
Dr. Wijesundara noted that the new botanical
gardens will provide for the conservation of dry and arid zone flora.
Additionally, researchers and interested parties
would be able to study less known and under-utilized plants in the dry
zone. "When it comes to a tourist attraction, foreign tourists
especially are keen on learning about the dry zone landscape
improvement, herbal industry promotion etc.
Moreover the botanical gardens will be an
educational and training centre of Botany and flora," he said.
Experience of running the national botanic gardens of Peradeniya and
Hakgala has demonstrated the business case for tourism, with both
gardens being profitable. The new Dry Zone Garden will follow this
established, and tried and tested pattern, he said.
Dr. Wijesundara said that the new gardens will
be an educational resource for educational institutions of all levels,
from junior school through to higher education.
The gardens will also be a source of expertise,
particularly in the long term where diploma courses and other formal
educational provision in Floriculture and Herbal industries will become
more important - and popular - within the educational curriculum.
Future courses in biodiversity and
conservation will also benefit from having a national resource to draw
upon, a location for student volunteers (national and international
programme potential) and a place where research projects can be carried
out too, he said.
The herbal industry will be supported as the
gardens will hold a specialized herb collection. The dry zone has a
large number of medicinal plants that are used in Sri Lanka presently.
Dr. Wijesundara said that these are valuable plants which can be used in
the development of the herbal industry, one of the fastest growing
industries in other countries in this region.
The gardens will become a centre for the
promotion of the herbal industry; one which can be sustainable in the
future is managed well today. Another area of plant based industries is
production of bio-fuel.
Source - Sunday Times
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