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Eng Mohammad Arqoub Al Khaldi, chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar, said the optimal implementation of 5/6 Park couldn’t have achieved without the cooperation of all relevant entities in the country, as well as the participation of Qatari artists with their various artistic works, which added a creative and cultural touch to the park. Khaldi said the committee’s efforts to increase the green spaces in the country are important part of the committee’s goal to make areas environmentally friendly. He said Qatar honoured 20 volunteer artists in appreciation of their efforts with volunteer artwork that served the committee’s plan for 2020. Ahmad Al Namla, CEO of Qatar Museums, said: “We at Qatar Museums appreciate the committee’s efforts to invest talent of people of Qatar in all beautification projects, as well as their continuous cooperation with Qatar Museums to spread arts and emphasise art’s importance in the society; being one of our major pillars.” Eng Hessa Khamis Al Kaabi, project design manager of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places, said the 5/6 Park contains lots of features distinct from other parks in Qatar, including a large plant maze. The maze designed in the shape of the map of Qatar is located in the heart of the park to be the focus of attention of every visitor. The maze’s entrances and exits were named after coastal cities of Qatar, and the final shape of the map appears clearly when viewed from the sky and the nearby hotels, adorned with fancy lighting to illuminate at night. Among the distinct features of 5/6 Park is the ‘symbol of resilience’ (Sumood), designed by Faisal Al Hajri, a Qatari fine artist. Another artistic feature is a collection of two pieces from Mathhaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, namely “Poems” (1963-1965) and “Poem in Three Verses” (1963-1965) by the Lebanese fine artist Saloua Raouda Choucair. The park also includes many facilities attracting visitors and tourists, as it contains shaded areas for families to sit, play areas for children that contain games suitable for different ages, areas designated for celebrations and spaces to display various forms of artworks, in addition to areas specified for fitness equipment. The park also includes exercise areas, pedestrian paths of approximately 1.4 km, jogging paths of 1.4 km and a cycle path of 1.1 km, in addition to bicycle parking slots. Stone and sand paths were implemented for pedestrians inside the park, which is the first of its kind in public parks, allowing visitors to the park can enjoy a healthy walking experience without shoes on several types of natural floors. The park also includes many utilities and service kiosks such as restaurants, cafes, washrooms and prayer areas among others, in addition to providing seating areas and necessary services for visitors. This is in addition to the columns designated for feeding birds and distributed throughout the park. Eng Hessa added that the park contains open green areas of about 122,000 square metres. It also includes lots of small shrubs and tree fences. It may be noted that 10 percent of the trees planted in the park are of Qatari origin such as Ziziphus Spina Christi, Acacia Tortilis and Acacia Arabica. These trees provide a cool shaded atmosphere and outshine Qatari identity. Trees suitable for Qatari environment are being planted, taking into account of less water consumption and future maintenance works. The trees chosen include the Ziziphus Spina Christi, Acacia Tortilis and Acacia Arabica, which are evergreen trees with a height of more than 10 metres, and grow excellently in Qatar and withstand environmental conditions from high temperature and drought. The park also includes decorative trees planted alone or in groups, or as backgrounds behind young shrubs and flowers such as Cassia Javancia and Bauhinia Purpurea. The committee has depended on locally produced materials in implementing this park up to 65 percent of materials used. The local elements used included curbstone tiles, asphalt and lightings, in addition to planting materials of trees, grass, different plants and Sweet Soils, and locally-made rubber floors known as SBR were used as a recycled rubber layer for the jogging tracks. The committee’s projects aim to create a sustainable environment through implementation of several main tasks that include building central public parks, providing dedicated pedestrian paths and bicycle tracks, street furniture, cosmetic lightings, developing Doha Corniche and some beaches, developing the central Doha region by reviving some main roads and internal roads, vital locations, residential and open squares. The committee also aims to contribute to create a societal environment with a distinct identity through participation of community members in artistic and afforestation work in coordination with several ministries and government entities of the State. The PM’s visit was attended by Minister of Municipality and Environment (MME) HE Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie and President of the Public Works Authority Dr Eng Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi among others.
