Kathmandu, May 12:
One lakh 76 thousand 516 saplings have been planted in 166 hectares so far during the construction of the national pride project ‘Kathmandu-Terai-Madhes Expressway’. The 20,000 trees and shrubs cut down during the construction of the expressway have been planted as a research project.
An agreement was reached between the Forest and Soil Conservation Department and the expressway construction project to plant 25 saplings instead of one tree cut during the construction of the expressway. According to Rathi Bikas Pokharel, chief assistant of the expressway project, planting of saplings has been expanded in a period of two years. Five lakh saplings should be planted in the vacant lands of government and community forests within five years for the research of the trees cut down in the construction of the expressway.
Some of the saplings planted in 166.37 hectares of Bara’s Kachhadia-Nagmani, Lalgaon-Janhit, Sahajanath-Kohlvi and Ramwan community forests have reached two meters height. 19,000 fruit species and 157,500 forest species have been planted in these forests.
As Nijgadh Bara is the zero point for the construction of the expressway, local community forests are a special priority in tree planting. The project has stated that it is working at a fast pace as per the target of planting trees in 201 hectares within the fiscal year 2077/78.
From Gorkhapatra Daily