Urban greening begins in Riyadh’s Al-Jazeera

Abdulaziz Al-Moqbel, Director of the Green Riyadh Program, participating in planting the first seedlings in the afforestation project in Al Jazeera neighborhood on Thursday.‎ (Supplied)

Abdullah Al Shiddi, Director of Relations at the Green Riyadh Program (2nd from left), explaining to the media professionals the details of the afforestation project in Al Jazeera neighborhood, which began on Thursday (March 16) within the activities of urban greening works in the residential neighborhoods in the Saudi. (Supplied)

• Organizers said that the project would help raise the quality of life in the Saudi capital and promote healthGREEN

RIYADH: Urban greening works have begun in the Al-Jazeera area in Riyadh’s east.

The initiative continuies the “Green Riyadh” initiative and follows similar projects in Al-Aziziyah and Al-Naseem.

The Al-Jazeera phase will plant a total of 39,000 trees and shrubs, create 11 parks, give 37 mosques and ‎14 schools green areas and line around 36 km of roads with trees.

Designs have been chosen to meet global environmental ‎standards and take local conditions into consideration.‎

Organizers said that the project would help raise the quality of life in the Saudi capital and promote health.

“Green Riyadh” supports Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative to plant 10 billion trees nationwide. The project includes 7.5 million trees in Riyadh, which will green 9.1 percent of the city’s total area, managers said.