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The Hong Kong Wetland Park would be open to the public on May 20, 2006, with an opening ceremony on May 19, Commissioner for Tourism Miss Au King-chi, announced today (May 3).
"The wetland park is our first major ecotourism facility aimed at promoting green tourism, education on environmental protection and wetland conservation. The park includes a visitor centre of about 10,000 square metres with three major exhibition galleries and fabrication of exhibition items and an outdoor park of 60 hectares of habitats for wildlife," Miss Au said.
"This will be a world-class ecotourism facility with more than 500,000 visitors expected in the first year of operation. It will help position Hong Kong as the premier destination for family tourists in the region."
The wetland park is developed on an ecological mitigation area originally intended to compensate for the wetlands lost due to Tin Shui Wai New Town development. The project has upgraded the 60 hectares ecological mitigation area to a world-class conservation, education and tourism facility.
Miss Au said the works, testing and commissioning and other preparation for the opening of the Hong Kong Wetland Park had been going smoothly. There will be a soft opening in the second week of May to fine-tune all operations.
"We plan to invite various groups from the community to take part in the soft opening, including the Legislative Council, the Yuen Long District Council, relevant advisory committees, local organisations and disadvantaged groups in Yuen Long, the travel trade, green groups and volunteers,กจ she said. "We look forward to listening their views on the park's operation."
Miss Au was pleased that the Architectural Services Department was recently awarded the Medal of the Year by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects for its design of the wetlands park. The layout of the park was carefully designed to ensure that it was in harmony with the surrounding environment and wildlife would not be disturbed.
The park will open from 10am to 5pm on Mondays and Wednesdays to Sundays. It will close on Tuesdays (except public holidays). The admission fee is $30 for adults and $15 for children, students and senior citizens. There are discounts for group and family visitors. People can obtain more details from the HKWP website at http://www.wetlandpark.com. Groups can also book their tickets online.
Ends/Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:18
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