SEREMBAN: For the past few years, volunteers and more than 10 organisations have worked together to enhance the landscape of the 100-year-old Lee Sam Road Chinese Cemetery.

Located in the heart of Seremban, the cemetery is gradually no longer eerie and unkempt but has become a green lung for city folks.

One of the participating organisations, Persatual Amal Air Bertitik (PAAB), has turned the foothill of the cemetery into a scenic walkway with a sea of bougainvillea in two years.

PAAB chairman Chai Moei Ho planted bougainvillea along the walkway beside Sungai Temiang behind The Store supermarket.

She has raised a total of RM28,000 from friends and relatives to plant 26 bougainvillea trees on flower stands along the 36-metre walkway.

After spotting bougainvillea at the muddy lane, Chai decided to turn the walkway into a sea of bougainvillea.

Prior to that, the walkway was a muddy lane covered with heaps of trash.

Volunteers spent several months clearing the trash before laying bricks on the muddy lane to turn it into a walkway that leads to the entrance of the cemetery.

Lobak state assemblyman Chew Seh Yong said foreign tourists had conveyed positive comments about this initiative, and had even taken photographs of the floral walkway.

“Their compliments are a form of endorsement for us to carry on with more landscaping work along the cemetery,” he said.

Last year, Chew organised a lantern festival celebration at the temple inside the cemetery in an unprecedented move to turn the cemetery into an auspicious place for cultural events.

Besides, local residents have also gathered at the cemetery for morning exercises.

The cemetery has been given a facelift with landscaping works to become a tourist attraction.