Hotel plants trees in Puncak

Hotel plants trees in Puncak

JAKARTA (JP): In an attempt to curb floods in Jakarta a
private company has launched an environmental awareness campaign
and planted 1,100 cinnamon trees along the Puncak resort area's
main road.

Besides beautifying the area, Central Jakarta's Sari Pan
Pacific Hotel planted the trees Saturday to help conserve water
in catchments, the hotel's general manager Ken Ide said.

"This is only a small contribution to the environment, but its
aim is to educate people of the need to start taking care of
nature," Ide said.

During the campaign dubbed "The Essence of Life" trees were
planted along Jl. Raya Puncak, Cisarua district, up to the top of
the hilly resort.

Puncak's villas, which take up space that could be used for
water preservation, are said to be one of the main causes of
Jakarta's floods. Early last year heavy floods in Jakarta killed
30 people.

Ide said the hotel chose cinnamon trees because Indonesia was
a supplier of high quality cinnamon.

He said the hotel spent between Rp 28 million (US$11,740) and
Rp 30 million planting the trees.

Sari Pan Pacific also donated pine trees, which were the
hotel's Christmas trees, to be replanted in Puncak.

"It is a shame to waste the Christmas trees when they can be
used in a more appropriate manner," Ide said. (02)