WESTPORT Malaysia recently won an award in the National Landscape Competition 2003, organized in conjunction with the National Landscape Day last Wednesday.

Its waterfall gardens and thematic gardens were awarded the second best after Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd's in the private building category. The port, landscaped over 8ha of vacant land, currently has more than 300 varieties of trees and flowering plants as well as three waterfalls.

"We believe in providing a soothing and pleasant atmosphere for our workers as this will lessen stress and bring out the best in their performance," Westport executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam said. Over the past year, Westport had spent about RM2 million on new landscaping projects, the latest being a contemporary Japanese garden and a landscape carpark. Westport also received the award of distinction from the International Real Estate Federation in 2000.

The National Landscape Competition is an annual event held since 1993. Last year, a total of 164 winners from state level competitions participated in the 15-category national level competition. Evaluation was based on the preservation of the landscape environment, which includes, among others, preservation of topography and plant species with historical and local value, as well as maintaining the clean surroundings with back-to-nature setting.