VP starts orchid greenhouse development

BOGOR (JP): Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri symbolically inaugurated the construction of a Rp 4.8 billion (about US$436,300) greenhouse for orchids at Bogor Botanical Garden on Sunday.

The greenhouse, which will cover 1,200 square meters, will be able to house 2,000 orchids, between 100 and 200 species and 89 hybrids.

The construction of the greenhouse will by fully financed by the state budget, Megawati said.

Megawati also expressed her willingness to help maintain and develop four national botanical gardens across the country, including three in Java and one in Bali.

"I want to take care of the four botanical gardens in Java and in Bali. I hope I can do it during my term," Megawati said.

Several high-ranking officials, including Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and several ambassadors and representatives from Algiers, Chile and India attended the ceremony.

On the same occasion, Algerian Ambassador Sofiane Mimouni donated 77 plant species from Algeria and expressed the hope that they could be placed in a special plot in the Bogor Botanical gardens.

But the garden's conservation head Dedy Darnaedi said the plant species could not be put in a special plot as the garden was already full.

"Maybe we could place them in a special plot in Cibodas gardens," Dedi said, referring to the gardens in nearby Puncak, West Java. (21/jun)