01 Oct 2024 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Leenah Wahab
Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) lack equipment to detect trees at risk of falling, an official said yesterday.
Municipal Commissioner J. M. Bhadranie Jayawardhana said that CMC doesn’t have specialised machinery needed to assess the internal condition of trees, and it limits our ability to detect decay and assess risk.
“We bought a machine in 2016, but the report was not accurate, so we rely on expert researchers instead,” she said.
On October 5, 2023, a tree fell on top of a bus in Kollupitiya at 4:30 am, tragically resulting in five casualties. Since, there have been 59 incidents of tree falling amid inclement weather conditions, with the Colombo Municipal Council removing 100 of 200 trees identified to be at risk following inspections in May. According to an EU funded Project in South Asia that surveyed 800 trees in Colombo, 227 trees were removed, 344 trees were trimmed and the total number of healthy trees were found to be 229.
She said the CMC face other challenges relating to long term storage of woods and cutting materials. “We don’t have enough funds to keep our logs. We call outsiders for quotations and technical evaluations,” she said.
Jayawardhana said the CMC are currently in talks with experts from the forest department and National Building Research Institute, have hired botanical specialists from the University of Peradeniya and have support from the Timber Corporation in tree hazard management. “There have been no recent incidents, but we (CMC) have taken many steps to protect the city by cutting branches to balance trees and felling decayed trees,” she said. “We need public support- people must be vigilant. If they are pulling at the root surface, we urge people to dial 011 to allow CMC to take necessary action immediately.”
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