Dubai Municipality's Parks and Horticulture Department plans for this year include the construction of a number of parks in different areas of the emirate, in addition to various landscaping projects.

Ahmed Mohammed Abdul Karim, Director of Public Parks and Horticultural Department, told Gulf News that the department is going to create green squares in the Jumeirah area, in addition to landscaping Jumeirah's main and secondary roads.

"Dubai is considered the country's leader in the number of parks and recreation grounds, with a total landscaped area of 4,790,852 square metres," he said.

In planning new residential districts, Abdul Karim said the municipality has reserved eight per cent of the area for parks or landscaped areas.

The new projects will include building seven small parks for residential areas in Al Mezher, Al Garhoud, Hatta, Nad Al Sheba, Umm Suqueim and Al Quoz.

He said the department will undertake 29 landscaping projects, in addition to renewing 18 landscaping projects and adding four huge environmentally-protected areas in different places in Dubai.

Abdul Karim noted that before taking on any landscaping project, the department conducts a comprehensive study of the traffic in that area, the types of buildings, and the size of the area.

"All this will affect the designs of the parks and the kind of plants grown," he explained.

Landscaping of the areas connecting Sharjah and Dubai in Al Qusais area starts in March. This month, the department will begin landscaping along Al Quoz Road as well as Bu Kedra, Ras Al Khor, and Al Mamzar Interchanges.

Landscaping around the Ring Road is expected to start next month to be completed by the end of this year.