Trees in Jakarta not fit for urban areas, expert says<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The suitability of trees planted as part of Jakarta's regreening
\ncampaign has come into question, as apparently many are unlikely
\nto withstand heavy storms during the rainy season.<\/p>\n
An urban planning expert of Trisakti University, Yayat
\nSupriyatna, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the success of
\nthe Jakarta administration's regreening campaign was debatable,
\nas it was evident after tropical storm Linda hit Jakarta last
\nFriday that the planting of many trees in the city had not been
\nproperly planned.<\/p>\n
\"Jakarta's leaders have long been obsessed with regreening the
\ncapital. However, they must remember that trees with strong roots
\nand tough branches are definitely needed for urban areas,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The trees also have the function of protecting the city from
\nsunlight and rain, and reducing pollution and heat.\"<\/p>\n
Governor Sutiyoso had launched the Jakarta Ijo Royo-royo
\n(Green Jakarta) program under which the City Park Agency will
\nplant a total of 10 million trees by 2010. As of last year, the
\ncity had already planted 4.6 million trees.<\/p>\n
Yayat suggested city officials pay more attention to the
\nmaintenance of trees.<\/p>\n
\"The park agency must focus on the maintenance of trees of
\nmore than 20-years old, as they are prone to falling,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The violent storm that hit the capital on Friday uprooted
\naround 200 trees, mostly in the South Jakarta area. Most of the
\ntrees were angsana trees, although canary trees, banyan, palms,
\nkhaya and poinciana trees were also toppled in the storm.<\/p>\n
\"I am still trying to work out which trees would be perfect
\nfor the city,\" Yayat said.<\/p>\n
The city's Development Planning Board (Bappeda) had said in
\n1997 that acacia, poinciana and angsana trees were not
\nrecommended for the regreening campaign. Instead, the board
\nsuggested the city administration plant mahogany, tanjung and
\ntimber trees.<\/p>\n
On Monday, uprooted trees and broken branches were still
\nstrewn along Jl. Hang Lekir, Jl. Pakubuwono and Jl. Leuser in
\nKebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
City Park Agency head Sarwo Handhayani said her agency was
\nstill working to clean up the mess.<\/p>\n
\"Our personnel are still in the field, working to take the
\nlogs to Srengseng,\" she said, referring to the agency's seedling
\nunit in West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
She said that the agency planned to carry out an evaluation of
\nthe condition of trees across the capital. However, she admitted
\nthat the agency did not have any guidelines on the correlation
\nbetween a tree's age and its likelihood of falling.<\/p>\n
\"Some trees are 40 years old but they are still in good
\ncondition,\" she said.<\/p>",
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