CHENNAI : The Corporation has identified 209 roads in the city, most of them larger arterial roads, for plantation of saplings, as part of the re-greening initiative after cyclone Vardah which felled over one lakh trees in the city in 2016. The plantation drive for 2018-2019 leaves out exotic species such as rain tree, a large number of which were broken in parts or whole during Vardah and makes way for 17 species that include the native ‘Portia Tree’ (Thespesia populnea) of which the city Corporation plans to plant 2000 saplings out of the targeted total of 23,000 saplings.
The civic body will also plant 2,000 Indian almond trees (Terminalia Catappa) and 2,000 saplings of neem, among other species. For this, the civic body has finalised 209 roads across the zones as opposed to the 100 roads that were initially planned, said Corporation officials. The roads were identified based on the field assessment carried out in June and July in 2017. “For the current year plantation, wider roads have been chosen. The avenue plantation along larger roads would be more visible and therefore, managing the planted saplings would become easier,” stated a report submitted to the Corporation by Care Earth Trust, a Chennai-based biodiversity research organisation.
The project cost has been estimated at Rs 5.29 crore.
Roads such as Rajiv Gandhi Salai-IT Expressway, East Coast Road, DGS Dinakaran Road and Velachery main road in the Adyar zone are to get new saplings as part of the drive.