Muscat – The Environment Authority (EA) is calling for retender to establish two nurseries for wild saplings in Musandam to increase the green cover.

A statement issued by EA said, ‘As part of the national initiative that started in 2020 to plant 10mn wild trees in ten years, the authority is re-offering a tender to establish two nurseries, one in the wilayat of Khasab and the other in the wilayat of Dibba in Musandam governorate.’

The deadline for submitting bids is October 23.

Besides increasing the number of wild trees and green cover, the authority hopes to raise awareness on the importance of preserving indigenous species of trees among the community members through this project.

In January 2020, EA, in cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman, launched an initiative to plant 10mn wild trees in the next ten years. The wild tree species include ghaf, sumr, sidr, shue, tiq, talh, mitan, sarh and alalan.

Under the initiative, EA is distributing seedlings of Omani wild trees among organisations and individuals in order to increase the area of vegetation and combat desertification across all governorates.

Of the targeted 10mn wild trees, EA has already planted 4.75mn seeds of wild trees in different parts of the sultanate in close coordination with relevant authorities.