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AKARTA: Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has said he will plant 10,000 mango trees on the edge of streets in the city before the start of the rainy season.

'We will plant the mango trees in the coming months and priority will be given to open air streets in North and East Jakarta,' he said after making an impromptu field visit to the sidewalk renovation project along Jl. Gatot Subroto on Saturday.

He said the planting of 10,000 trees would help ease air pollution, absorb rain water and beautify the city. 'The trees will also function as an ecosystem for birds and provide economic value for residents.'

When asked about preparations for the upcoming rainy season, Jokowi said that the ongoing dredging of a number of dams and rivers in the city were part of concrete measures taken in anticipation of floods.

'The dredging projects at the Pluit and Ria-Rio dams have begun while the normalization projects in Pesanggrahan River, Angke River, Sunter River and Ciliwung River are still underway. Floods this year will not be as bad as previous years,' he said.