​​H.E. Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior participated today at the 5/6 Park in ‘Qatar Beautification and Our Kids Planting trees’ campaign that aims at planting a million trees, implemented by the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

During the visit, H.E. the Prime Minister joined a number of Qatar kids in planting trees in with the aim of engaging the generations to instill environmental values in them and encourage them to preserve the environment.

His Excellency also inspected a number of artworks by a group of artists among natives and residents in Qatar.

The 5/6 Park crowns the Committee’s works for the year 2020. Located in Onaiza area, the park is centered between many vital tourist and commercial spots in the country such as Al Dafna, Lusail, Katara, among others. 5/6 Park has many distinct features including its exceptional design, home for many distinguished artworks, vast open green spaces and integrated services, which makes it an excellent leisure and tourism spot for the people and visitors across Qatar.

The visit was attended by H.E. Mr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Subaie, Minister of Municipality and Environment (MME), H.E. Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi, President of the Public Works Authority; Eng Mohammad Arqoub Al-Khaldi, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar; Mr. Ahmed Al-Namlah, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Museums; Mr. Jamal Al Naeimi, Director of Doha Municipality; Mr. Mohammed Al Khouri, Director of Public Parks Department at the MME; and Mr. Ali Al Shahwani, Member of the Central Municipal Council (Consistency 2).

Eng. Mohammad Arqoub Al-Khaldi, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar stated that 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.

Eng. Al-Khaldi further commented that the committee's efforts to increase the green spaces in the country is an important part of the committee's goal to make areas environmentally friendly, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 to achieve environmental sustainability.

The Chairman of Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar honored 20 volunteer artists in appreciation of their efforts with volunteer artwork that served the committee's plan for 2020.

On this occassion, Mr. Ahmad Al Namla, CEO of Qatar Museums commented, “We at Qatar Museums appreciate the committee’s efforts to invest talents of people of Qatar in all beautification projects, as well as their continuous cooperation with Qatar Museums to spread arts and emphasize art’s importance in the society; being one of our major pillars.”

Salient Features of 5/6 Park

Eng. Hessa Khamis Al Kaabi, Project Design Manager of the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places, stated that 5/6 Park contains lots of features distinct from other parks in Qatar, including a large plant maze. The maze designed shaping 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.

As for the hill next to the maze, it is about 5 metres high from the surface and located in the centre of park. Being higher than its surroundings, the hill gives overall 360-degree view of the park.

Among the distinct features of 5/6 Park is the ‘symbol of resilience’ (Sumood), designed by Mr. 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 also 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% 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.

Planting trees suitable for Qatari Environment

As part of the Supervisory Committee’s focus on implementing beautification and recreational projects that preserve the environment and contribute in improved healthy life for the people, the trees for plantation in the park were chosen in consideration of the nature of Qatari environment, 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.

Among other trees chosen are the Cassia Nodosa, Delonix Regia, Tabebuia Argentea and Cassia Gluca They are beautiful and attractive shade trees with a height of 10 metres, and are distinguished for growing well and resisting drought. Also among the shade trees included in 5/6 park are the Bucida Buceras, Millingtonia and ficus benghalensis which are among the evergreen trees ranging between 6 to 10 metres and are considered one of the greatest and wonderful shade trees in public parks. In addition, Ficus religiosa is chosen and reaches up to 30 metres in height and suitable for the Qatari environment as they bear most types of soil and are used in the park individually.

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.

Using Local Materials in the Project

It is worth noting that, as the Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar endeavors to support local manufacturers; the committee has depended on locally produced materials in implementing this park up to 65% 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.

Supervisory Committee of Beautification of Roads and Public Places in Qatar

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.