KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — It will be many more years before Kuala Lumpur achieves the status of a green city, according to Federal Territories Deputy Minister Datuk Loga Bala Mohan.
“We are still a long was off in regard to making our nation’s capital a green city, as there are many aspects that need to be made environmental-friendly and sustainable,” he said.
Loga said it was still early but some progress had been made to raise community awareness, with the creation and maintenance of green lungs in the city.
“The project has been ongoing for the past two years and we need several more years for visible and notable results. For example, work is currently underway to have 100,000 trees planted in the city by the year 2020,” he said.
Speaking to reporters at the launch of Bangsar Organic Day 2015, Loga also said public attitude and mindset were just as important as going green physically.
“People want to go green. They want organic produce, sustainability in their environment, and have events such as this which give us some form of measure as to how the mindset is changing.”
Loga said the market for organic produce has a huge potential in Malaysia and that greater awareness could lead to greater demand for organic produce at reasonable prices.
“With the rise in demand, more people will turn to organic farming techniques and this will in turn bring down prices.
“But we can’t subsidise organic goods. That would not be sustainable. Let market forces decide on the prices,” he said.
