The Green Riyadh Program, one of the four mega Riyadh projects, launched by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, upon an initiative of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, has announced the start of planting trees in residential neighborhoods, which is a main component of the program that targets increasing green areas in the city. The program aims at planting trees in more than 120 residential neighborhoods, where designs have been developed for this purpose based on global environmental standards that take into consideration the local environment. The program includes the construction of parks in residential neighborhoods, planting trees on secondary streets, building pavements with trees and pedestrian crossings, planting trees around mosques and schools, planting trees at parking lots and building major parks, and planting trees at valleys in Riyadh. Planting trees will start from Al-Aziziyah neighborhood on Dec. 29, 2022, by planting 623,000 trees and bushes at 54 parks, 61 schools, 121 mosques, and 78 parking sites, as well as 176 kilometers of roads and walkways in the neighborhood. The commencement of program activities is accompanied by the implementation of an event aimed at acquainting residents of the neighborhood with the start of the program, its stages, duration, and the accompanying works. The Green Riyadh program contributes to realizing the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative (planting 10 billion trees across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). The Green Riyadh Program seeks to plant 7.5 million trees in Riyadh, and increase its green area to 9.1%, raising the per capita green area from 1.7 square meters to 28 square meters, which equals around 16 times the current rate. It also aims to upgrade the urban environment of Riyadh by planting trees in residential neighborhoods. To ensure the sustainability of green spaces, the program seeks to create a network to irrigate green areas, and reuse treated water with an average of 100% with amounts of up to one million cubic meters of water daily. — SPA
