Video: 20,000 trees, 6 million plants in and around Expo 2020 Dubai site

Dubai - The project has created a 2-million-square-metre green belt

With just under a month to go for the Expo 2020 Dubai, the main site as well as it’s surrounding areas have gone green with over 20,000 trees.

The Dubai Municipality on Thursday announced the completion of landscaping projects at the Expo site. Completed at a price of Dh205 million, the project has created a sprawling and eye-catching 2-million-square-metre green belt.

The municipality shared a video showing a green haven along the roads and flyovers to the Expo site.

“More than 4 million seedlings decorate the roads and intersections leading to the site,” the municipality said in the video. “Nearly 2 million seedlings were planted inside the Expo site.”

The green belt covers all the roads and main intersections leading to the Expo 2020 Dubai site and includes the extension of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, Expo Street and Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Street.

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The landscaping work included planting 24,474 trees, 65,000 shrubs, 1,541,710 square metres of soil covers, and 50,107 square metres of cactus plants, another 2,707,912 square metres of soil covers, 5,049 metres of fences, 76,671 square metres of green spaces, around 847,000 square metres of gravel, and 3,118 square metres of climbers.

“Dubai Municipality uses cutting-edge technologies and the vertical farming method to implement its landscaping projects across the city,” said Dawoud Al Hajri, director-general of Dubai Municipality.

“Our plan is to expand our greenery drive to cover all the areas in Dubai including open spaces, roads and public parks. By expanding the green areas, we will be able to achieve the sustainability of the horticultural sector, improve air quality and boost the community’s mental and physical health,” he added.

As part of the project, Dubai Municipality extended 58km of the main irrigation lines and 234km of the sub-lines. Three main pumping stations and three concrete tanks were also established to store irrigation water. Planting around the exhibition site was carried out at a length of about 21km.

Dubai Parks Entrance

The project also includes key landmarks near the Expo 2020 Dubai site, including the entrance to Dubai Parks, at a total area of 177,123 square metres. Steel landscaping works extended over an area of around 109,000 square metres. Additionally, the main irrigation lines were extended by 10.3km and sub-lines by 60.1km. A pumping station with a concrete tank for irrigation water was also constructed at a value of around Dh40 million.

sahim@khaleejtimes.com​

• Dubai

Sahim Salim

As Associate Editor, Sahim Salim helps tell the UAE story like no one else does - and leads a team of reporters that asks the questions to get news and headlines that matter.

sahim@khaleejtimes.com