August 11, 2006
By Lucille Davie
UP to 300 well-established trees will be removed from some of the city's main arterials in the run-up to the construction of the Gautrain.
Five poplars have already been removed outside the proposed Sandton Station in Rivonia Road, says Mike Griffiths, senior manager of street trees with Johannesburg City Parks. These had to be removed because their roots were a problem in the relocation of the underground services infrastructure.
A total of 317 trees have been identified by Bombela, the construction company for the Gautrain, as being a problem for road widening, part of the Initial Works programme in preparation for construction.
Around 50 of these trees have been identified for pruning, says Griffiths, while some 270 will have to be removed.
All the large plane trees in Sturdee Avenue between Bolton and Jellicoe avenues are to be removed, along with several white stinkwoods, which are indigenous. Jacarandas and palm trees along Bolton Road and Jellicoe Avenue are also to be removed.
Griffiths has estimated that the value of the trees to be removed is R1,8-million, without the cost of removal and possible transplanting.
While more meetings are to be held with Bombela to finalise the details, large trees - white stinkwoods, palms, plane trees and pin oaks - in the islands along Bolton Road, Jellicoe Avenue and Baker Street in Rosebank have been identified as being in the way of road widening plans.
"The removal of trees is guided by the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) which advocates that every tree removed as part of the Project, will be replaced where possible," says a statement from Bombela.
Bombela has undertaken to replace all exotics - palms, plane trees and pin oaks - with indigenous trees.
Griffiths is keen for trees that are being removed to be transplanted to Soweto, but he is not sure whether Bombela will agree to this.
Griffiths is particularly concerned about the removal of a golden trumpet tree on the corner of Oxford Road and Biermann Avenue. There are 15 more of these in Oxford Road which he fears will also be removed.
"The removal will generally last for short periods of time and will result in temporary lane closures along certain roads and not total road closures," says Bombela.
The process of replacing large trees is complicated, says Griffiths, and could take up to three years. It involves root pruning for two years, to get the root ball to a size that makes it possible to lift the tree out of the ground. Only in the third year can the tree finally be lifted and transplanted.
"This costs a lot of money," he says, "people don't appreciate the value of trees."
"The planting of replacement trees will take place with the full support of the City of Johannesburg Parks Division," adds Bombela.
Construction of the high-speed Gautrain between Park Station in Joburg and Hatfield Station in Tshwane, and the Johannesburg International Airport has begun, with road closures in Sandton and Rosebank, in place for around four years, soon to be a reality of everyday life for Joburgers.
Sandown residents will be without water on Sunday, 13 August, when new water supply pipelines will be connected to the newly laid line.
Residents are requested to call the Gautrain toll-free number - 0800Gautrain or 0800 428 872 46 - to report any major incidents.
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