Going green — again: CDGK restarts Green City Project

Campaign aims to plant at least five million saplings.

KARACHI:

The City District Government Karachi has restarted the Green City Project with an aim to plant at least five million saplings and trees across the city. Many town municipal administrations (TMAs) have started plantation work in parks and green belts that had become barren due to little or no maintenance.

The CDGK spokesman said that climate change has called for an extensive plantation campaign to start immediately. This is an easy task if the TMAs actively participate in the Green City campaign throughout the year, not just for a week or two, he added. “If every TMA ensures it can plant 25,000 saplings, the target would be shortly achieved.”

The spokesman said the CDGK parks and horticulture department has established the green belts in the city.

Every TMA has its own plants nursery and an independent horticulture department. “A little support from philanthropists, school managements and the corporate sector could bring about the green revolution.”

The New Karachi Town administration has allocated funds for the repair and maintenance of parks and green belts. However, watering the plants and grass fields is a problem as there is no water available in the entire town.

Meanwhile, the Gulshan-e Iqbal Town administrator, Raza Abbas Zaidi, told The Express Tribune that the town would plant 3,000 saplings during the 15-day long Green City Campaign. “We could change the climate if every family in the town commits to planting a tree,” said Zaidi.

“The government should bring about an ordinance and make it mandatory for every citizen to plant a tree every year starting from class one to matric so that Pakistan can emerge as the protector of the climate,” MNA Asif Hasnain  suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2011.