Qatar has unveiled an ambitious beautification plan which includes, among other things, laying out several green oases in the form of sprawling public parks across the country. Some 20 public parks and an unspecified number of playgrounds are to come up in different parts of the country, including Doha, as part of the beautification drive. But in the meantime, an enormous QR100m package has been announced by the Municipality and Urban Planning Ministry to upgrade internal streets all over, notably Doha. “Contracts to repair Doha’s interior streets as well as those in the northern stretches of the country (Al Shamal) have already been inked,” the Minister of Municipality and Urban Planning, H E Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Khalifa Al Thani said. The remaining contracts are to be finalised by next month, the Minister said. Addressing the members of the Central Municipal Council (CMC), which has elected representatives from all the 29 civic bodies in the country, the Minister, while announcing the QR100m package for internal road repair, said on Tuesday that a new system was being launched whereby the root cause of the problems these roads faced and developed potholes as a result, will be routinely studied. Regular and extensive road surveys will be carried out to identify the problems that led to the weathering of the roads. “This is the first time a new system is being implemented in the country to conduct in-depth study about the condition of interior roads,” the Minister said. About the plans to develop large public parks and playgrounds, Sheikh Abdul Rahman clarified that their launch would be announced as and when adequate finances and human resource are available. These civic amenities will be evenly spread across all municipal jurisdictions in the country, he said. Earlier, the Chairman of the CMC, Nasser Abdullah Al Kaabi, welcomed the Minister whose visit was being eagerly looked forward to by the elected representatives since they were keen to hear him. This was the second time the Minister visited the CMC. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News200906116452.xml

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