DART CE implores stakeholders to support the tree-planting campaign in Dar es Salaam.
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure development in Dar es Salaam is affecting the natural environment positively by bringing in the aesthetic aspect of the city but conversely damaging the natural environment by cutting down trees to pave the way for road construction. The same setting is being polluted by carbon dioxide from cars due to abled people purchasing cars and using them for going to work or their places of business instead of public transport.
Following suit on the call by the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency Philip Mpango, to plant trees in cities and towns countrywide, the Dar Rapid Transit (DART) Agency, Dr Edwin Mhede, has stressed the importance of planting trees along the DART corridor to transform it into a green environment.
Dr Mhede said it was high time for public transport stakeholders to take mitigating measures to curb all factors leading to climate change by planting trees along the DART corridor and promoting the use of public transport instead of private cars.
He said planting trees in cities and towns all over the country is one of the directives given by the Government of Tanzania to all government institutions, including the DART Agency.
Dr Mhede echoed the call by Vice President Dr Mpango at a ceremony when the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) Limited was handling 1,000 seedlings to the DART Agency at Ubungo Terminal on April 12, 2023.
He insisted that all DART Agency's staff must be committed to planting the trees and caring for them until they reach maturity. Dr Mhede vowed to care for his seedling by watering them every day.
To ensure that all seedlings planted along the DART corridor in Phase 1, grew well, he tasked Mr El-Malick Aboud, the Managing Director of China-Tanzania Security, the security services provider in the BRT system, to ensure that the growth of those trees along the DART corridor is not frustrated.
Referring to the genesis of the tree planting campaign, the NMB Chief of Retail Banking, Mr Filbert Mponzi, said that he was happy to learn that Dr Mhede, who doubles as the NMB Board's Chairman, was also one of the founders of the brainchild for the campaign at NMB and at the handling ceremony being the DART Agency's Chief Executive.
Mr Mponzi said that NMB has planned to plant one million trees countrywide, starting with primary and secondary schools and government institutions to make the country green. He said NMB has a budget of 6.2 billion Tanzanian shillings to accomplish the campaign.
Mr Mponzi revealed that the NMB would give awards of different categories to schools that have excelled in planting trees.
Receiving 1,000 seedlings during the handling ceremony, the DART Agency's Ministerial Advisory Board Chairperson, Dr Florence Turuka, confirmed to the participants that DART Agency would exceed the set survival rate for the planted seedlings.
He said: "If there is any standard that has been set for these seedlings to grow instead of dying out, I promise that DART Agency will surpass any group doing the same because the DART Agency's Chief Executive has vowed to take care of his seedling until it becomes a fully grown tree", Dr Turuka said.
Speaking on behalf of the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner who was to be the guest of honour at the ceremony, the Ubungo District Commissioner, His Excellency Hashim Komba commended the NMB and DART Agency for coming up with the idea of conducting the tree planting campaign in the DART corridor for this would beautify the city and reduce the rate of pollution.
The District Commissioner gave an example of a successful campaign of planting trees in Rwanda, referring to Kigali in Rwanda, that one could not pass any place in the city without seeing green vegetation of trees, grass and flowers amidst business activities.
He instructed local government authorities to identify all groups of people doing business along the DART corridor, as they would be tasked with caring for the trees planted in those areas lest they die through trampling.
The tree planting campaign, which involved all DART Agency's workers and other public transport stakeholders, has been conducted under the auspices of NMB.