Investing for Bahrain's biodiversity

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

More than 100,000 seedlings were created as part of a policy to establish nurseries in various municipalities of Bahrain, a top Works Ministry official said.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, the Undersecretary of the Municipalities, said the move aims at creating supportive nurseries in municipalities ahead of the Winter season.

The Undersecretary of Municipalities said the Ministry of Works is working to establish nurseries in various municipalities as part of a strategy to enhance the green cover by encouraging afforestation. “We seek to invest in every possible space, no matter whether it is squares or large gardens,” said Shaikh Mohammed.

The Adhari nursery, he said, contributes hugely to the ministry’s afforestation efforts and reducing the cost of agriculture.” “The nursery is helping us reach self-reliance in the production of trees,” he added. “Salmaniya nursery, which sits in Salmaniya Park sits on 1,000 square meters, produces palm shoots for planting at streets, intersections, and other projects, once they grow to an appropriate size.”

The nursery, he said, produces 4,000 different plants and trees and more than 10,000 seedlings of flower plants. “We are planning to plant Hibiscus, Jatropha, Acacia and other plants in the next planting season,” he said.

The Southern Municipality, he said, has established a nursery in the Grand Khalifa Park in Riffa, which sits on 2,000 square meters of area.

The Hamad Town nursery in the Northern Municipality produces different shrubs and flowers in preparations for the next agricultural season.

The ministry, he said, is keen to utilise the best techniques to multiply the production of flowers to help expand the green area and beautify the main streets there. “The nursery in the Muharraq municipality is producing 12,000 cassia seedling, bougainvillaea, hibiscus and other plants,” he said.

He also revealed having a proposal to establish a cooled nursery garden to produce season flowers with a capacity of 120,000 seedlings per year.

On the projects in Muharaq, he said the most important is the palm nursery at the entrance of the Al Muharraq market, the palm nursery on Dry Dock Street near Hidd, where the ministry has planted 1,250 seedlings. “We are also preparing to plant another 500 seedlings by the ear end in the treebank nursery at the intersection of the Arab Street with Street 40,” he added.