In Vilnius, real estate developers got rid of a hundred-year-old oak tree that grew in the center of the construction site, thus causing a sharp reaction in society, and Lithuanian politicians have also expressed their condemnation, writes the Lithuanian public media LRT.
The President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėdas, has called the cutting down of a tree barbarism and “spitting in the faces of the city’s residents”. The tree was located on a plot of land on Rinktines Street, which is currently undergoing reconstruction. The mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, immediately announced that the city has not issued a felling permit, and the case will be handed over to the prosecutor’s office. Benkunskas wrote on his Facebook account on Saturday: “It is outrageous and regrettable that the developers in the center of Vilnius have cut down a century-old oak tree today as if it were nothing. They did not have any permits,
so this is nothing short of simple vandalism and a crime against the citizens of Vilnius.”
Benkunskas added that the city has measures to take against such actions. One option is to suspend building permits for those who think they are above the rules and the law.
The developer of the plot, Rinktinės NT, later released a statement saying that the tree had damaged the plot’s water supply network. Contrary to the municipality’s opinion, the tree has been assessed and, according to the arborist’s opinion, it is not even a hundred years old, but its roots have significantly damaged the underground water pipes. The developer added that the felling of the specific oak tree was planned, and it did not do anything unauthorized.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that the author of the reconstruction project is Gilma Teodora Gylytė, the wife of the former mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius. The architect has indicated that the cutting of the tree was not foreseen in the plan she made, and
it was supposed to become the center and axis of the new urban block.
Gylytė’s company Do Architects announced on Monday, the 22nd of May, the termination of the contract with Rinktinės NT.
The incident forced the president to get involved as well. Nausėda called on the authorities to thoroughly and principledly investigate the cutting down of the oak tree and urged society not to remain indifferent and stand up against scoundrels without a conscience.
Mindaugas Pakalnis, the chief architect of the Vilnius municipality, told LRT Radio that the developer’s actions are cynical and deliberate, and that what it says about damage to the water supply system is just a reservation. Pakalnis said: “In reality, the tree was cut down because the developer wanted 40 additional parking spaces. This was simply a way of cleaning up the yard.”
Read the full article here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1994839/vilnius-scandalised-by-developers-cutting-down-century-old-oak-tree