Royston Sim The Straits Times AsiaOne 3 Jan 15;
Singapore could welcome its first World Heritage Site this year, when Unesco decides on the Botanic Gardens' nomination.
The 155-year-old park was nominated in 2012 for Unesco status, and official documents for the bid were submitted last year.
Unesco World Heritage Sites are cultural or natural places deemed to have outstanding universal value.
Spanning 74ha, the Botanic Gardens is a green lung in the heart of Singapore that showcases more than 10,000 types of plants and draws more than four million visitors annually.
The nomination dossier describes the Gardens as "an exceptional example of a British tropical colonial botanic garden" that assembles both historic landscape features and buildings, as well as conserved lowland primary rainforest.
If accepted, the Gardens will join the likes of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Petra in Jordan and the Royal Botanic Gardens in London as Unesco World Heritage sites. A decision on its nomination could be made by June.
