Putrajaya sold to tourists

Putrajaya sold to tourists

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia will soon promote its new administrative capital as a prime destination for foreign visitors who appreciate town planning and architectural grandeur, a senior tourism official said Sunday.

The government will try to get travel agents to include Putrajaya, about 40 kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur, in their tour packages, Deputy Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.

Putrajaya, a sprawling 4,580-hectare metropolis of landscaped gardens and domed buildings, is Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's pet project and current seat of government.

Over the past two years, government departments have begun moving from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city, into Putrajaya under an ambitious scheme to have all government employees working from and perhaps living there by mid-2002.

Built during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis for an estimated 20 billion ringgit (US$5.2 billion) and opened in 1999, Putrajaya has been criticized by the Malaysian opposition as the epitome of Mahathir's extravagance.