Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Putrajaya set to glow with street parades, fireworks

24 Jan 2007
Deborah Loh
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PUTRAJAYA: Putrajaya will celebrate its sixth year as a federal territory with parades on Jan 31 from 9pm until midnight.

Although the main celebration for Federal Territory Day will be held in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 1, Putrajaya is not about to be left out.

Celebrations on the eve of Federal Territory Day will be held at Dataran Putrajaya in Precinct 3, on the Perdana Avenue in front of the Palace of Justice building.

The public should come early to get prime positions along the road to enjoy march past performances and dance formations by various uniformed bodies, cultural shows by all races, including the Chinese lion dance, acrobatic stunts performed on motorcycles by a special unit from the army and a fireworks show.

Putrajaya Corporation president Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said the activities were part of "breathing life and soul" into the country’s most carefully planned city, which has magnificent buildings housing federal government offices, and an estimated residential population of over 50,000. The total working population is around 100,000.

"The event is not just for Putrajaya residents but we want to attract people from Bangi, Dengkil and surrounding areas," Samsudin said at a briefing on the event yesterday.

The Flora Fest 2007, which is being held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year, will also be a run-up to the Federal Territory Day celebrations.

The Floral Parade will be held on Saturday along the Perdana Avenue where floats by all the states will be paraded before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong who is expected to attend.

The floats will display the theme "Colours of Harmony" in celebration of Malaysia’s multi-racial society.

The floats will be kept on display for two more days until Jan 29 in special air-conditioned tents for public viewing.

The tents are located along Perdana Avenue in the open parking lot next to the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry.

The town is also celebrating with a fishing competition at Putrajaya Lake at Precinct 1 on Feb 3 at 8am.

There are only 1,800 places for this competition, which is held twice a year, as fishing at the lake is otherwise prohibited.

For information about the fishing competition, call 03-8887-7102 and for the night street parade on Jan 31, call 03-8887-7416/7202.

Source: +http://www.nst.com.my