Al-Khobar gets 15 new green parks

AL-KHOBAR — The local municipality opened 15 new parks on Thursday in various neighborhoods of Al-Khobar to enable the public to enjoy the natural beauty of the city, Al-Riyadh daily reported. Head of Al-Khobar Municipality Essam Al-Mulla said the municipality has set a plan to diversify recreational facilities in the city to increase its status as a tourist attraction in the Kingdom. “With the summer vacation starting, the people of Al-Khobar, the Kingdom and neighboring countries are welcome to see the natural beauty and serenity of Al-Khobar. We are trying to encourage domestic tourism by providing recreational services to citizens, residents and visitors,” said Al-Mulla. He also said the municipality has focused on building clean and safe parks to allow children in residential areas to play and hang out. “The municipality benchmarked its park building plans with developed cities. It will also introduce various entertaining activities and programs throughout the summer. We hope to encourage people to take a walk in the park and enjoy the outdoors instead of polluting the air by driving everywhere,” said Al-Mulla. He said Al-Khobar now has a total of 64 parks in various neighborhoods. “The municipality is expanding the infrastructure of the city while paying attention to its landscape and greenery. The municipality follows internationally defined standards in maintaining the environment and balancing between roads and greenery to control the rate of pollution in the city,” said Al-Mulla. He said several education institutions and charity organizations have participated in raising awareness on the importance of maintaining the greenery in cities. “Nursery centers, schools and universities have participated with a number of volunteers in various neighborhoods to plant in public parks and take care of the greenery and flora of the city. There were several campaigns organized by charities, schools and universities to support the parks in Al-Khobar,” said Al-Mulla.