Accra, June 11, GNA – The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has commenced the national tree planting exercise in its three sub-metropolitan areas with 3000 seedlings.
The tree planting in the three sub-metro areas- Ashiedu Keteke, Okaikoi South and Ablekuma South, when matured would provide shades along pedestrian walkways and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Mrs Florence Kuukyi, Public Health Director for AMA, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the exercise would focus on schools, major road corridors, such as the Old Winneba road and Mantse Agbonaa.
She mentioned some of the seedlings they were planting included mahogany, cassia, cashew, cedrela, oranges, coconut, among others, adding that, they were planting the oranges, cashews and other citrus fruits in schools and plant the coconut seedlings along the beaches.
Mr Kuukyi, who is also the supervisor of the programme, said they were expecting a second batch of the seedlings to plant in addition to the 3000, saying, in all, they were expecting 8000 seedlings.
She said this would augment the Assembly’s already tree planting agenda which was ongoing prior to the current event, saying, they had plans of planting 10000 trees to beautify the city and make it climate friendly.
“The Assembly in 2018 launched its Sustainable Greening and Beautification of Accra project as part of efforts to address its environmental challenges. In the project, we identified 21 open spaces, out of which 8 have been greened and developed,” she added.
Some schools that took part in the exercise included the Independence Avenue and Ayalolo cluster of schools in Okaikoi South, Mamprobi Sempe 1 and Chemunaa Cluster of schools in Ablekuma South, among others.
GNA