Surabaya declares new greening program

Surabaya declares new greening program

SURABAYA: The Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar is
planning to proclaim a "One Soul, One Tree" program in Surabaya
on Saturday. Surabaya government spokesman, Juli Subianto, said
on Friday the program was aimed at improving the quality of
Surabaya's environment.

The program was announced to the public after Surabaya mayor
Bambang DH issued an instruction recently that every person
applying for a birth certificate or to become a Surabaya resident
would be obliged to plant one tree before their application would
be accepted. To ensure that people actually planted the tree, he
or she has to enclose a letter from their local neighborhood head
stating that they had done so.

Besides the One Soul One Tree Program, the Surabaya city
government has planted some 893,000 trees across the city since
January this year. Currently, the city has 26,43 hectares of
green area, while ideally it should have 32,637 hectares. --
Antara