THE Selangor government has to take the issue of the re-location of the Sungai Buloh horticultural nurseries seriously as it is an important component of the state’s economy.
About three years ago the Selangor Agricultural Development Corporation (PKPS) had proposed for the nurseries in the Sungai Buloh Greenlane (opposite Kota Damansara) to be re-sited in the Bukit Changgang Horticultural Hub near Banting in Kuala Langat.
Most of the nursery owners and operators had paid the deposits and signed the lease agreements. The site was cleared of the existing oil palm trees and PKPS promised infrastructural works to ensure that the site will be ready ready for use soon.
However, nothing was done and the site is now a jungle. Last year PKPS issued a letter asking whether the nurseryman were still interested in the relocation programme as most of them had cited the far away distance and the lack of commercial viability for the Bukit Changgang site.
PKPS too is of the opinion that the site is not viable for the horticultural business which should be nearer to more urban areas to ensure commercial viability.
The PKPS when choosing a site to re-locate all the nurseries from Sungai Buloh should have opted for a site closer to the urban areas and not a far off venue in a mostly rural area.
The nurserymen are now in a dilemma as there is no relocation site ready for them and the present rapid development of Kwasa Damansara (RRI) looms large on the need for an urgent relocation to make way for infrastructural upgrades for the large township.
The present Green Lane site is now in a run-down condition as the nurserymen are uncertain about the future of the site and no new investments are made and neither are any dilapidated structures repaired.
Selangor state assembly representatives need to raise this matter during the present session to get a positive response and answer concerning this important issue that affects a lot of nurserymen.
The Selangor government and PKPS need to find an alternative place as the Bukit Changgang site has been found to be unsuitable and not commercially viable.
Why the PKPS chose this site is bewildering to the nurserymen who had in meetings throughout the years proposed sites nearer to urban areas for their business to be successful and viable. PKPS had ignored all these and decided to dump the nurserymen in a remote corner.
The state government can easily find a better site for relocating the nurseries in a hub close to urban areas if it wants the state’s horticultural industry to flourish.
The nurserymen too have been scouting around for good sites to help PKPS. They have identified two sites in Sungai Buloh where the nurseries can be relocated.
One is the more than hundred hectares plot belonging to the RRI Board next to Kwasa Damansara. This large land was supposed to become the basis of the once much touted Rubber City envisioned by then primary industries minister Tun Lim Keng Yaik.
The scheme could not be realised as it depended on the supply of rubber. There are hardly any rubber trees estates in Selangor. It looks like this project has been aborted as nothing has been done for the last almost three decades.
In the meantime the area has turned into a jungle and the old rubber trees have been abandoned. It has become a wasteland when it could be put to good use and earn money for the Board.
Former Selangor menteri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim in one of the meetings with the nurserymen had stated that the horticultural nurseries could be aborbed by Kwasa Damansara when the RRI is developed.
He opined that the nurseries could be included in the green spaces and parks when Kwasa Damansara is developed into a residential suburb.
Another site proposed by the nurserymen is the large MRT reserve in Sungai Buloh under the elevated tracks.
The state government need to look into this proposal and liaise with the MRT and other authorities to get approval for the use of the reserve for which the nurserymen are willing to pay a reasonable rental.
The MRT reserve is much safer than the TNB transmission reserve, the water pipeline reserve or the railway reserve.
These two are good options and only the state government and PKPS have the authority to deal with the RRI Rubber Board and MRT who could agree to renting the land if the financial returns are good. ‒ July 9, 2025
V. Thomas is a Focus Malaysia viewer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image: The Star/Yap Chee Hong
