KOTA KINABALU: After waiting for about three years, the public especially families with children and joggers can finally return to the Tun Fuad Stephens Park in Bukit Padang here with its reopening scheduled for Monday (Oct 27).
Rebranded the Tun Fuad Stephens Botanical Park, this place used to be the place to go for jogging, food hunting, spending time with family and at one point, to enjoy the water park there.
However, it was shut down late 2022 to make way for renovations and upgrading.
The City Hall said while there are delays and some areas still marked as off limits, the decision to allow for the reopening of certain parts of this park was made after a full inspection conducted during the pre-opening brisk walk programmes held recently.
This pre-opening was to assess the safety features and the feasibility of its jogging track to be utilised by the public, said the City Hall.
From the pre-opening, it was found that the remaining major works that needed to be completed did not affect the jogging tract, as the tract only needed finishing touches.
The areas that will be opened to the public on Oct 27 are only the hiking trail except for hiking trail number two, as this route passes through the Botanical Centre, which is still under active construction.
Areas accessible to the public are open from 6am to 7pm daily, while off-limits areas are the Botanical Centre, Commercial Plaza, Boardwalk and Lake Walk, Conservatory Park and Bamboo Corner as well as the Herb Garden.
The City Hall is issuing a stern warning against encroaching into these prohibited areas, and it would not be responsible for any injuries or incidents occurring at these off-limits areas.
There will be signboards to make the instructions clear for the public, while other ongoing construction works continue.
The City Hall has also urged the public to keep the park clean at all times.
