A lack of contingency plans nearly caused the garden to close

Funders of the garden came in for criticism for failing to provide contingency plans when visitor numbers dropped.

The garden was bailed out by public money after being on the brink of closure in 2003.

The auditor general said there was a "crisis" when visitors did not turn up.

In 2003, the 500-acre garden at Llanarthne in Carmarthenshire, was on the brink of closure after the decline in visitor numbers and rising debts.

I am no longer surprised by situations like this arising in the public sector - it is the same situation that arose over the Millennium Dome Jeremy Coleman, Auditor General for Wales

The garden, which cost more than �40m to set up, was a project to mark the new millennium.

But visitor numbers slumped after it was opened by Prince Charles in 2000 and the garden needed a �1.3m rescue package to remain in business.

Welsh culture minister Alun Pugh initially rejected calls for a �3m assembly bail-out, but a three-party rescue deal was eventually struck between the assembly government, Carmarthenshire Council and the Millennium Commission.

But in his report into the financial management of the project, Wales' auditor general Jeremy Colman said: "There was no discussion of contingency plans and that would have thrown up the fact that there weren't any.

"So when the visitors didn't turn up there was a crisis."

The problems were similar to those of the Millennium Dome, says the report

Had that forward planning been done, said Mr Colman, then the public bodies funding the set up of the garden - namely the Welsh assembly government, the Wales Tourist Board and the WDA - "might have deduced" that they would soon be asked for extra cash.

Initially the garden attracted more visitors than predicted but in following years, numbers dropped to nearly half of that forecast forcing the management of the garden to look for further funding.

"I am no longer surprised by situations like this arising in the public sector. It is the same situation that arose over the Millennium Dome," said Mr Coleman.

"The assumption in the garden's business plan - that it would not require ongoing public revenue support funding - was ambitious.

"Most national botanic gardens receive some form of public funding."

He also criticised funders for concentrating on their own contributions rather than looking at the overall picture "with the result that they had different information about which plan the garden was working to."

Mr Coleman said they "were not fully and equally aware of the extent of the problems until the garden had reached crisis point".