The park, named The World for Orchid Exploration, is set to be inaugurated Oct. 3 and will be open to professional exhibitors and orchid breeders and growers, as well as tourists.

The park, a joint venture between the Tainan county government and the Taiwan Orchid Professional Co., has been developed under a rehabilitate-operate-transfer (ROT) contract that will run for 12 years from 2009, said Cheng Jung-ji, deputy director of the Tainan County Agricultural Affairs Department.

"The joint venture will allow the Taiwan Orchid Plantation to save millions of dollars a year in maintenance costs and revive open spaces that have been lying idle," Cheng said.

Vast areas of open space in the plantation had been unused for months at a time when no international or domestic orchid exhibitions were taking place.

The Taiwan Orchid Plantation put itself on the map when it began to host international orchid shows in 2005. The shows have not only helped promote Taiwanese orchids on the international flora market but have also turned Taiwanese orchids into a cash cow for the agricultural industry, earning huge amounts in foreign exchange every year.

Initially, the county government will impose 1 percent-2 percent royalties from the park in the first three years and from the fourth year, will collect royalties at a flat rate of NT$1 million (US$30,864) each year, according to Cheng.

Costs for land-leasing, as well as publicity costs for orchid exhibitions -- totaling millions of dollars per year -- that have been regular expenditures for the county government will also be absorbed by the private exhibitors or shop operators at the park, he added.

Meanwhile, Hsu Neng-shun, CEO of the Taiwan Orchid Professional Co., said his company has so far invested NT$130 million in the development of the plantation into a leisure and tourism park.

"Our goal is to develop the plantation into a park that showcases fine agriculture, biotechnology and the creativity industry, " Hsu noted.

The park features four sub theme-parks -- the Orchid Castle, the Orchid Dream Work, the Crystal Palace and the Orchid Gallery -- where visitors can see how orchids are grown and how Taiwanese specialists and orchid breeders use biotechnology to decode orchids' genetic secrets, which in turn allows them to produce cosmetics and other skin-care products, Hsu said.

Visitors can also view entries in an orchid design competition slated to kick off Oct. 3, part of a series of activities to mark the transformation of the plantation into a leisure and tourism park, Hsu added.

(By Deborah Kuo)