Muscat – A new nursery will be set up in Al Wusta in line with the ongoing efforts to protect and propagate native plant species in the sultanate.

Environment Authority (EA) is calling for tenders to establish a nursery for wild saplings in Al Wusta 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 floating a tender to establish a nursery in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.’

The deadline for submission of bids is October 31.

In September, EA invited bids to establish two nurseries for wild saplings in Musandam.

In January 2020, EA, in cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman, launched the 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.

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.