KUALA LUMPUR: CITY Hall has embarked on a second Orchard in the City project with the planting of some 3,500 fruit trees at the Batu Floodwater Retention Lake.
More than 2,000 staff of 24 companies took part in the event last weekend.
They planted rambutan, durian, duku, honey jackfruit, mangosteen, kaffir lime and kedondong trees.
The event was recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest tree planting event in the country.
The companies, which included Beneton Properties Sdn Bhd, Bank of Tokyo, Quantum Quest, Gamal Arkitek Perunding Sdn Bhd, GDP Architect, Puspanita DBKL and Scope International, sponsored the saplings at the cost of RM100 each.
Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib received a RM260,000 cheque from the representatives of the companies for the tree-planting programme.
He also thanked the Drainage and Irrigation Department for providing the site.
Phesal said City Hall would ask the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia to provide the expertise to manage the orchard.
“We will seek their advice to ensure proper care and maintenance of the orchard. We want this to become our second orchard, after the one we have in Jalan Bellamy,” he said.
Phesal said city folk might be able to pick the fruits in five years’ time.
“In Australia and America, orchards are opened up to the public once or twice a year for them to enjoy. We might do the same here,” he said.
He said, from 2011 to 2013, City Hall planted 32,235 trees in the city under the Sponsor-A-Tree programme.
“This year, we planted 36,135 trees under the Sponsor-A-Tree programme. We are grateful to the sponsors for their contribution in helping to green the city,” he said.
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