Hanoi People’s Committee has decided to halt the landscaping plan to fell 6,700 trees after it stirred up concerns and outcry from many citizens.
Cutting a tree
“After hearing opinions from the citizens and the scientists, we decided to halt the current plan,” chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee, Nguyen The Thao, said on March 20.
The city will continue replacing trees that are age-old and decaying since these trees pose threats to people. However, the Department of Construction was asked to revise the list of trees that should be replaced, in particular, crooked trees will be fixed in stead of being chopped down.
On March 19, Thao criticised leaders of tree felling project for failing to properly inform the public about this project. “The citizens only knew that over 6,000 trees would be chopped down but they were not aware that the city was trying to replace old and decaying trees,” he said.
He went on to say that private businesses would fund the project, not the government.
However, Thao admitted that the current method is wrong. Instead of chopping down trees en mass, in near future, the city will carry out the plan in small steps to ensure the city’s tree coverage will remain the same.
When the city announced the plan to chop down 6,700 trees, including trees that are still strong, many people raised voices of concerns. Several ancient trees have witnessed the history of the city and have historical values. Moreover, the city has not asked for their opinions.
Nguyen Thinh Thanh, chief of the office of Hanoi People’s Committee, said 6,700 trees are age-old, decaying or encroaching the streets. According to the official, these large and tall trees are posing a threat to people and vehicles as they can fall at any time. Moreover, there are many trees of different kinds that the locals planted on the same streets that make poor urban landscape scene.
The Department of Construction proposed with Hanoi People’s Committee to replace these 6,700 trees from 2015 to 2017. The plan is estimated to cost VND60bn.
Đăng ký: VietNam News