PARLIAMENT | The government has put on hold the plan to build the country's first Museum of Nature in Putrajaya due to financial factors, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Tourism, Art and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi said the government had previously identified several potential areas in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya for the construction of the museum.

“We are working with the Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry to build the museum.

“This includes establishing a task force to discuss the implementation of the proposed museum at the federal level but it was postponed due to financial factors,” he said during the Minister's Question Time session.

He was responding to a question from Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar) on the current status of the plan to build the museum.

To a question on whether the ministry intends to build the museum in Sabah, Mohamaddin said there were some things that needed to be considered before making a decision on the matter including the state government should be ready to give up the land to the federal government for the construction of the museum.

Besides that, he said the state government should also be prepared to bear half of the cost of building the museum.

- Bernama