For a green Vinh city

(Baonghean) -This summer started with continuous, long heat waves. Vinh City is close to the sea, but the outdoor temperature at peak times is over 40 degrees. These days, walking on the street, seeing people in “sun-protective” clothes, I think of a city full of trees.

Up to now, Vinh has been a class 1 city for 5 years. During this time, the city has had many positive changes, especially the fastest urbanization speed in the North Central region. Vinh city has also created beautiful green spaces such as Cua Bac flower garden, Cua Nam flower garden, Nguyen Tat Thanh park, Ho Chi Minh Square... However, the current urban green tree system has not yet met the standard of coverage.

To ensure the coverage standards of a type 1 urban area, the city assigned the Green Park Joint Stock Company the task of: sowing, growing, planting, caring for, buying and selling shade trees, street trees, ornamental plants, fresh flowers; Managing and maintaining flower gardens, parks, vonda, traffic islands, gardens, cemeteries; designing and constructing flower beds, ornamental plants, and lawns. With that task, the company has specific annual tree planting targets. The main focus is on intercropping on the streets and caring for and planting new lawns and other ornamental plants in flower beds and median strips. During the continuous heat waves of this summer, the company's workers had to regularly water and care for ornamental plants and lawns on major streets such as Le Mao Street, Ho Chi Minh Square area, Truong Thi Street, Lenin Avenue, etc.

Goong Lake - a relaxing place in the heart of Vinh City

Although there have been many positive changes, the urban green tree system of Vinh City has not yet "caught up" with the development trend in terms of area as well as urbanization speed. Mr. Nguyen Dang Lu (84 years old, living in Block 6, Truong Thi Ward), said: "In the past, Vinh City had a lot of trees, but few people, so it felt very cool. War, continuous storms and floods, the old landscape was almost destroyed, houses were built one after another, making it very stuffy. There are many new roads, many new trees, but it is not like the old days".

We know that through many ups and downs, to have the streets like today requires a lot of effort, but to have a truly green city is not just the work of one industry or one level. Mr. Phan Xuan Bao - Director of Vinh City Green Park Joint Stock Company, said: In recent years, the city has paid great attention to developing the green space system in the city. This is reflected in the investment budget for planting, maintaining and caring for urban green spaces, which has increased gradually over the years, from 4.2 billion VND (2009) to 10 billion VND (2011) and 12 billion VND (2012).

However, a regulation for urban areas of type 1 is to have 30 - 50 hectares for the production of trees and ornamental plants, but currently, the area of ​​​​the city's nurseries is still not enough to meet that demand. Meanwhile, urban green tree planning is a mandatory content in urban planning. When building new urban roads, trees must be planted in sync with the construction of technical infrastructure works.

In fact, the green area ratio and tree structure of Vinh City are not reasonable. The whole city has 30-40% of trees planted inappropriately such as parasol trees, acacia trees, etc. The reason for this has been explained by those responsible that, due to the fluctuations of a city developing in many aspects, the green tree system previously planted by the State and partly by the people was mainly fast-covering trees, planted according to programs and projects, so the trees are not suitable for regulations and standards.

Meanwhile, funding for planting, caring for and protecting trees is limited, lacking mechanisms and policies to encourage all economic sectors and people to participate. In addition, the management of trees is still loose, the situation of cutting down trees, pruning branches... indiscriminately has reduced the coverage density and survival ability of trees in the city. There was a time when, taking advantage of the dark, some people often secretly peeled the bark of milk flower trees on some deserted streets to sell the bark to traditional medicine shops for medicine, or to make waterproof plastic in construction works, seriously affecting the trees planted in the area.

To develop urban trees, in addition to the budget, Vinh City needs to mobilize resources from the people. And to do that, there must be mechanisms and preferential policies to encourage investment capital attraction; publicize planning and lists of investment calling categories; promote effective investment; integrate urban park and tree projects with other profitable projects. In addition, strengthen the management of urban trees in terms of planting, maintaining and protecting trees. At the same time, encourage and guide people to actively participate in planting trees, caring for and protecting trees right in front of each household, on the streets to ensure compliance with planning and regulations on approved tree species. The State also needs to implement a socialization policy so that businesses and philanthropists are interested in investing in planting trees. This will contribute to environmental protection, ensure criteria for urban trees, and significantly contribute to keeping Vinh a green city.