Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Agriculture Park, in Tenom, has won the first placing in the Agriculture/Forest Recreational Park category of the national-level Landscape Competition 2001.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad presented the award at the launching of the National Landscape Day 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, last Sunday.

Earlier, the Sabah Agriculture Park also won first place in the state-level Landscape Competition 2001 which enabled it to represent Sabah at the national level.

According to Sabah Agriculture Director Datuk Jurij Awang Yaacob, this was an achievement for the state, which confirmed that Sabah could also offer a highly-rated and beautiful tourism destination in the country.

"This is the evidence of a description by the Prime Minister that the park is the best and most beautiful in the world, while opening the park on March 25, last year," he said.

The 1,500-acre perk offers several beautiful attractions to tourists, comprising seven major components. These include: the Native Orchid Centre which has a collection of some 400 species of the total 1,500 identified in Borneo island; the Living Crop Museum consisting 400 plant species of economic value; the Bee Centre, recognised as one of the best bee research centre globally; the Germplasm Collection which has a collection of ginger, bamboo and palms known to be among the best in the Asian region; the Ornamental Gardens which has been created to enchance effective presentation of 17 garden settings capitalising on plant diversity; the Evolution Garden exhibiting how plants evolve from primitive to modern era, and the Hoya Garden which is reputed as one of the best in Malaysia with a total collection of 25 types of Hoya, mostly found in Borneo.

Other facilities available in the area are the information centre, hostels, camping grounds, restaurant and souvenir shop.

The park is open daily on Tuesday-Sundays, as well as public holidays, from 9am to 4.30pm, except for Mondays.

Further details are available from the Park office, Tel. 087-737952, Fax. 087-737571, E-mail: [email protected] or website http://www.sabah.net.my/agripark.