Islamabad gets first ‘public fruit garden’

The first phase of the city’s inaugural public fruit garden was completed on Thursday after 200 saplings of various fruit plants were planted on a greenbelt adjoining a major road in Sector D-12/2.

Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz, after planting a sapling to inaugurate the fruit garden, said that public-private partnership is the key to success for social change.

Noting that the corporation is starved of financial resources, Aziz said that the cooperation of civil society organizations and philanthropists was critical for coming up with initiatives to make the federal capital clean and green. He added that the IMC has limited resources but that he was looking forward to the federal government increasing their funding so that they can complete critical projects such as improving the water and sanitation services, green cover and health facilities in the city.

Senator Sitara Ayaz, the chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, said protecting existing trees was as important as the planting of new trees, especially in the cities.

Citizens and communities shall play their role in both, she said.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) Executive Director Munir Ahmed, who spearheaded the initiative in partnership with the IMC, the National Centre of Cleaner Production (NCPC), Islamabad Devcom Centennial Leo Club (IDCLC), said that there is a need to replicate the project in open spaces across Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2020.