The Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) has re-affirmed it’s commitment to continue restoring the environment and restoring it’s catchment area by planting trees in order to ensure sustainable access to clean water for all.
LWB Chairperson, Prophet Dr David Mbewe made the remarks on Friday during a tree planting exercise in Malingunde.
Speaking during the tree planting exercise, Mbewe revealed that the board commenced this year’s tree planting campaign on 14 December last year and so far, about 350,000 trees have been planted across various locations within their catchment area.
He said that their plan is to plant 4,000 trees including 1,000 fruit trees in order to diversify the benefits.
He therefore, appealed with the communities around to take care of the planted trees and asked security agencies to take part in ensuring that the trees are protected.
In his remarks, the Member of Parliament in the area, Peter Dimba applauded the Lilongwe Water Board for the initiative saying that it is not their first time doing that but rather, they do that annually.
Dimba said that he has hope that the planted trees will be taken care of by the communities around.
” last year we registered 71% survival rate of trees and I am very hopeful that these trees we are planting, the communities around will make sure that they are taken care of”, said Dimba.
Commenting on the matter, the Senior Chief Masumbankhunda also commended the LWB for the initiative and also assured community engagement in protecting the trees.
” I assure you that these trees will be taken care of by communities around this area and we are going to put some by-laws to make sure that these trees are well taken care of”, said Masumbankhunda.
