IOI City Farm to attract 180,000 visitors

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- IOI City Farm, the first urban indoor farm park inside a shopping complex in Malaysia, aims to attract 180,000 visitors in the first year of its operation.

Scheduled to be officially opened this Thursday along with the opening of IOI City Mall phase two, IOI City Farm which spans across two levels measuring about 18,000 square feet, offers visitors a permanent edutainment space with an indoor living planet. 

IOI City Mall head of Retail, Chris Chong said City Farm would also serve as a learning hub where visitors young and old could learn about plants, animals and also marine life from its qualified zoologists, aquarists and botanists stationed there.

"I hope the opening of IOI City Farm will make our mall a more holistic one for our shoppers that is complete with sports, leisure, hospitality and now even a farm.

"The City Farm is divided into three different zones, spread over two levels. We have Greenland and Little Rimba on level two and Freshwater World on level one," he told the media at the exclusive preview of the new IOI City Farm Park, here, today.

According to Chong, the Greenland zone is home to an indoor collection of 111 living plant species spread across nine sections, namely, Vertical Garden, Urban Farm, Glocave, Mystical Cave, Season of Colours, Teeny-Weeny Forest, Insectopia, Roots N Seeds, and Green Glades.

At Little Rimba, besides the displayed animals such as sugar glider, Bengal cat, chinchilla, marmoset, fennec fox and others, young visitors can also spend time petting, interacting and feeding furry animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, chicks and ducklings.

There are also over 50 freshwater aquatic species, ranging from river giants such as the Amazonian arapaima and Amur sturgeon to tiny crustaceans like the vampire crab and bamboo shrimp at the Freshwater World zone.

"We mean it when we say edutainment. For the curious minds, we have an interaction pool and touch pool for our visitors to interact with some of the underwater creatures. 

"There is also a feeding pool and catch pool where visitors can try their hand at fishing. With this set-up, we hope that our visitors, both young and old can learn through hands-on experience," said Chong, adding that IOI City Farm target market is the family with children aged three to 12 years.

Chong said unlike other aquariums or farms, IOI City Farm also has a line-up of various activities such as fun fishing, DIY workshops and animal interaction. 

IOI City Farm, located at AT6, Level 2 of IOI City Mall, opens daily from 10 am to 10 pm. 

The tickets are priced at RM48 for children and RM37 for adults on weekdays, and RM58 and RM48 respectively on weekends, and public and school holidays.

-- BERNAMA