The Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), the managing associate for phase I of the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (CPRR), is transplanting 137 trees along the Northern Port Access Road, which is part of the ring road’s alignment. The trees that are around 35 to 40 years old are being shifted to an eight-acre plot near the 3.70-km-long link road.
Sources in the TNRDC said that although 301 trees are removed from the 21-km stretch, only varieties including sterculia, ficus religiosa, jamun, mango, tabebuia, thespecia and pheltophorum are being moved to the new site. “Coconut and palm trees cannot be shifted due to their height and neem trees cannot be transplanted due to their being hard wood and survival after transplantation would be impossible,” said a source.
The trees have been provided stakes as support and would be watered for a year. The shifting alone cost the company ₹9.5 lakh. This included the cost of digging out the trees, digging new pits and transporting them to the new location. Four men, including two, to guard the trees against cattle, would take care of the trees. Around ₹15 lakh would be spent on the trees for a year to ensure that they survive.
The TNRDC has a good track record when it comes to transplanting trees. Even recently, it moved 55 royal palms and pheltophorum trees from Rajiv Gandhi Salai to Uthandi on the ECR. The trees had to make way for the construction of the u-shaped flyovers on OMR. Similarly, during construction of OMR and widening of ECR, it had transplanted hundreds of trees to other locations and most of those were surviving well now, the officials added.
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