The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has just issued a directive to rectify the construction of sidewalk renovation and renovation to ensure that it does not affect urban trees.
This directive has been sent to the Department of Transport, Thu Duc City People's Committee, districts, Ho Chi Minh City Technical Infrastructure Management Center and Ho Chi Minh City Green Tree Park One Member Co., Ltd.
The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee requested the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport to consider the responsibility of relevant units in the construction of sidewalks that damaged the root system of 17 lim trees in District 1. This incident caused 8 trees to be cut down and 9 others had their canopy cut down.
The Department of Transport of the City Party Committee is also assigned to preside over and coordinate with the People's Committee of Thu Duc City, districts and related units to review and propose solutions to handle and rectify construction work, ensuring that sidewalk renovation does not cause negative impacts on urban trees.
At the socio-economic meeting on the afternoon of April 2, Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Nguyen Van Nen questioned the Director of the Department of Transport on the situation of sidewalk renovation on many roads affecting trees, especially perennial trees.
Responding to this issue, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport Tran Quang Lam said that according to regulations, when constructing in areas with trees, construction units must use manual measures or small-capacity excavation equipment to limit the impact on tree roots.
However, some units have not complied with regulations, using large-capacity machinery, digging deeply without taking measures to protect trees, leading to many trees being affected.
Faced with the above situation, the Department of Transport has coordinated with the Department of Construction Inspectorate to strictly punish violations. At the same time, this agency also requested districts and towns to strengthen close supervision to avoid similar situations in upcoming sidewalk renovation projects.
In addition, the Department of Transport has issued a detailed document on appropriate construction measures to protect trees. Inspection forces are also directed to increase patrols, detect and promptly handle violations.
According to the latest report from the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Technical Infrastructure Management (under the Department of Transport), the renovation of sidewalks on 54 streets in Districts 1, 5, 6, 11, Tan Binh, Phu Nhuan, Binh Thanh, Go Vap and Cu Chi district has affected more than 2,000 trees.
Of these, about 90 trees were cut down due to serious damage to the root system and unsafety. A series of other trees also had their branches pruning to minimize the risk of falling.
