A street in Hanoi (Source: Internet)The statement was made at a conference onMay 31 between the municipal Department of Construction and scientists andexperts on if the city should plant more African mahogany trees.
Currently, there are more than 4,000 Africanmahogany trees in the city. Many are located in inner districts and on keyroads such as Hoang Dieu, Le Hong Phong, Hoang Van Thu, Hoang Hoa Tham, La Thanhand Yen Phu.
African mahogany trees have large branches andeasily fall down in bad weather.
Nguyen Xuan Hanh, deputy director of Hanoi GreenTree and Park One Member Co Ltd, said that most of the trees were not tended toregularly, allowing them to grow naturally, reaching for light with tilted andcurved branches, affecting the city’s beauty.
African mahogany trees do not have high economicvalue. In addition, the roots need a lot of space to develop while the city’spavements are narrow with much underground construction. This affects thesolidity of the trees and make them easily fall.
Dao Ngoc Nghiem, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Associationof Urban Planning and Development, said that African mahogany trees should notbe planted in the city as their roots impact infrastructure, the beauty of thecity and pavements.
However, he said, the city needed to conductcareful surveys, classify rotten trees and consider preserving African mahoganytrees in some areas.
PhD Pham Van Dien, former director of theUniversity of Agriculture suggested that the city assign a group to conductsurveys, collect information, build the plan and collect opinions from thepublic before implementing it.
Vo Nguyen Phong, director of the constructiondepartment said the department would report to the city’s People’s Committee onthe status of the African mahogany trees and the impacts of biochemical soil onthe city.
About 1,000 trees on Pham Van Dong Street in Hanoi’sCau Giay District will be cut down, 158 moved and 142 pruned for the expansionof Ring Road 3.
The trees are set to be cut and pruned beforeSeptember 30, according to the road’s construction plan.
Speaking to onlinenewspaper Zing.vn on Wednesday, Pham Van Duan, deputy director of theHanoi Traffic Construction Project Management Board, said the board inspectedthe trees between April 18 and 20.
About 986 of the 1,300 trees are Africanmahogany trees of 0.4-1.2m diameter, he said.
The Hanoi Green Tree and Park Company will be incharge of cutting, moving and pruning the trees, Duan added.
It will be tough to complete the process beforeSeptember 30 as the city’s construction department has yet to give the companypermission to go ahead with the task, he said.
The Hanoi People’s Committee started the RingRoad 3 expansion project last October. The extended stretch of the road, fromthe south end of Mai Dich flyover to the south end of Thang Long Bridge, willbe 5.5km long, 56 to 93m wide and will have six traffic lanes, two of whichwill accommodate mixed traffic.
The project costs 3 trillion VND (136.5 millionUSD), and requires 392,000sq.m of land to be cleared and 796 households and 55office buildings to be removed.-VNA
VNA
