Jakarta – The Jakarta Parks Agency plans to relocate 34 banyan trees and cut down mahogany trees along one of the city's main thoroughfares to make room for an additional fast lane for motorists.
Agency head Sarwo Handayani said the 20-year-old banyan trees along Jl. Thamrin would be temporarily moved to the city's seedling center in Ragunan, South Jakarta, before being replanted in as-yet determined locations.
"Those banyan trees were grown by our agency," Handayani told reporters at City Hall on Monday.
The agency is now in the process of preparing the ground around the banyan trees for their safe removal. "We regularly water the ground," Handayani said.
She said the banyan trees were of the bonsai variety, so the agency would not have to deal with strong and complex root systems.
The city has recently seen a flurry of construction of new lanes for the busway system. As a result of this construction, many trees planted along the roads have been cut down.
Authorities also plan to cut down the mahogany trees near the Mandarin Hotel in Central Jakarta, to make way for the extra fast lane along Jl. Thamrin.
"We cannot remove them, so our solution is to cut them down. However, we will coordinate with the Jakarta Public Works Agency so we cut down the minimum number of trees. In compensation, we will plant mahogany trees every five meters along the pedestrian walk on Thamrin," Handayani said.
She told The Jakarta Post that Governor Sutiyoso had approved the plan but the money for the work had not yet been allocated.
"We will ask building owners to add greenery to their complexes," she said.
Handayani added that a lack of groundwater to water the grass on the median strips and pedestrian areas along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin had caused the grass to dry up.
"We usually use pumps to get the water from the ground, which is then sprayed onto the grass through a sprinkler system. Now we have to get water from dams and recycled water from hotels," she said.
Meanwhile, an official with the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Khalisah Khalid, expressed doubt over the city's handling of the trees affected by lane expansions.
Walhi opposes the construction of the additional fast lane on Jl. Thamrin, which it believes will not resolve the traffic problems.
"I don't think the agency will relocate the banyan trees. Even if they are removed, it won't solve the city's problems. It will only aggravate the problem of the dire need for green areas in the city," Khalisah said Monday.
"The city administration keeps violating its own pollution bylaw, which stipulates that the city must have 13 percent green area by 2010," she said.
Land conversions in several areas of the city have a lot to do with the lack of water for keeping the grass healthy and green, she said.
"The Jakarta administration needs to be more careful and analyze such issues 'from stream to upstream'. They cannot be impartial in handling infrastructure and environmental problems," Khalisah told the Post.