Junaidi (right) plants a mangosteen tree, as Abdul Jaafar (third left) and others look on.

KUCHING: The Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) in collaboration with Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama) Sarawak planted flowers and fruit trees around Medan Niaga Satok here yesterday in an effort to beautify the area.

When met by journalists, Datuk Bandar Datu Junaidi Reduan said DBKU was concerned about cleanliness, beautification, safety and orderly traffic management.

“Before this, we had done cleaning works here. Today, we are looking at the beautification aspect by planting various flowers and fruit trees to beautify the area,” he added.

Besides Medan Niaga Satok, he said they had also planted flowers and trees in Sukma Ria, where its anchor tenant E-mart had agreed to clean and beautify the area.

However, he lamented that there were no hawkers trading on the top level of Sukma Ria, despite it being a hawkers centre.

“We have identified the people who run the (hawkers) centre there. Give us a few more months to make it more vibrant,” he added.

Meanwhile, Fama Sarawak said the cleaning and tree-planting works on Medan Niaga Satok served as a way to educate its hawkers about the importance of maintaining hygiene as well as keeping the place lively.

Fama deputy director of operations Abdul Jaafar Lian was also present at the event.