Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Taman Tugu is a 66-acre (26.7-hectare) urban forest park in central Kuala Lumpur, immediately beside the National Monument (Tugu Negara), from which it takes its name (tugu means monument in Malay). The land was cleared as grassland for British colonial officers' bungalows in the 1930s, then used as Malaysian government officers' quarters until residents left in the late 1970s, after which it reverted to secondary forest and became an illegal dumping ground. Khazanah Nasional Berhad shelved an earlier plan to build a for-profit theme park there and instead launched the RM650 million, not-for-profit Taman Tugu Project on 4 September 2016, working with the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia to conserve about 1,000 existing trees and plant thousands more. Trails opened in phases from September 2018, and Lonely Planet named the park among the world's best new openings for 2019. By mid-2025 it had drawn over 500,000 visitors and co-hosted a Khazanah-backed World Environment Day event on 5 June 2025.
1930s
The site, then plain grassland next to what would become the National Monument grounds, is developed as a residential enclave for British colonial government officers, some of whom plant ornamental trees including West African oil palms.
late 1970s
Malaysian government officers who had occupied the housing after independence move out. The vacated 66-acre site is left unmanaged and gradually regrows into secondary forest over the following decades.
before 2016
With no active management, the overgrown site is used as an illegal dumping ground; the later restoration effort removes more than 300 truckloads of construction debris, household waste and other rubbish.
4 September 2016
Prime Minister Najib Razak launches the Taman Tugu Project, a not-for-profit corporate responsibility initiative led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund) with Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, FRIM and the Malaysian Nature Society. The RM650 million initiative, about 75 percent funded by Khazanah, replaces an earlier proposal to convert the land into a for-profit theme park, choosing forest conservation after public and NGO feedback.
5 September 2017
Najib announces that Taman Tugu will be placed under Amanah Warisan Negara (the National Heritage Trust), a Khazanah-established public trust modelled on the UK's National Trust, to protect the park in perpetuity as public green space.
September 2018
The park opens to the public with its first section, the 1.5-kilometre Green Trail, alongside roughly 1,000 conserved existing trees, some over 100 years old, and the first of more than 4,000 newly planted native trees grown from an on-site nursery in partnership with FRIM.
2019
The Yellow Trail (about 1.5 to 1.6 kilometres) opens, extending the network, and Lonely Planet names Taman Tugu among its Best New Openings for 2019, the only Malaysian entry on that year's global list.
2021
The White Trail (about 1.0 to 1.2 kilometres) opens, completing a roughly 4-kilometre main colour-coded loop in addition to the separate 1-kilometre Nursery Trail.
14 July 2022
Malay Mail reports that Taman Tugu is moving toward financial self-sustainability, with corporate sponsors such as CIMB Islamic, Acer and Canon adopting trails, trees and benches to cover roughly 20 percent of operating costs while Khazanah funds the remainder.
5 June 2025
Khazanah's philanthropic arm Yayasan Hasanah and Taman Tugu co-host a World Environment Day event at the park, by which point Taman Tugu had recorded more than 500,000 visitors since its 2018 opening.
Colour-coded trail network
The main loop was built in three phases between 2018 and 2021: the Green Trail (1.5 kilometres, opened 2018), the Yellow Trail (about 1.5 to 1.6 kilometres, opened 2019) and the White Trail (about 1.0 to 1.2 kilometres, opened 2021), totalling roughly 4 kilometres, plus a separate 1-kilometre Nursery Trail.
Conserved heritage trees
About 1,000 pre-existing trees were identified and tagged with FRIM before construction began, including specimens of jelutong, tembusu, pulai and gaharu over a century old and more than a metre in trunk diameter, along with IUCN-listed endangered species such as keruing, meranti and mersawa.
Newly planted secondary forest
More than 4,000 saplings, averaging 8 to 10 years old at planting and drawn from over 230 native Malaysian rainforest species, were grown in an on-site nursery and planted to regenerate the forest around the conserved older trees.
Colonial and post-independence land use
Before it was a forest, the site carried British officers' bungalows from the 1930s and, after independence, quarters for senior Malaysian government officials, before falling vacant in the late 1970s and being reclaimed by secondary forest and, later, illegal dumping.
Amanah Warisan Negara governance
The park is held under Amanah Warisan Negara (National Heritage Trust), a Khazanah-created public trust modelled on the UK National Trust, intended to keep the land protected as public green space in perpetuity rather than under a single corporate owner.
Adjacency to the National Monument
The park takes its name from the neighbouring Tugu Negara (National Monument), the bronze war memorial sculpted by Felix de Weldon (also known for the Iwo Jima Memorial in the United States); tugu is Malay for monument.
The Taman Tugu Project was launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 4 September 2016, and the park's first trail opened to the public in September 2018. Further trail sections followed in 2019 and 2021 to complete the roughly 4-kilometre main loop.
Yes. The 66-acre site was first proposed as a for-profit tourist theme park, but Khazanah Nasional Berhad changed course after feedback from residents and the Malaysian Nature Society, choosing to conserve the secondary forest instead.
In the 1930s the land was cleared as grassland for British colonial officers' housing, then used as quarters for Malaysian government officials after independence. Residents left by the late 1970s, after which the site became overgrown and was used as an illegal dumping ground before restoration began in 2016.
It is named for its location beside Tugu Negara, the National Monument; tugu is the Malay word for monument. The monument itself was sculpted by Felix de Weldon, who also created the Iwo Jima Memorial in the United States.
Around 1,000 existing trees, some over a century old, were conserved in place, and more than 4,000 additional trees from over 230 native Malaysian rainforest species were planted from an on-site nursery in partnership with the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM).
Lonely Planet named Taman Tugu among its Best New Openings for 2019, the year the park's trail network was still being expanded following its 2018 debut.
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