HÀ NỘI -- Green trees have been mentioned in poetry, painting, music and have became a special feature of Hà Nội.

Rows of trees on quiet streets like Phan Đình Phùng, Hoàng Diệu, Thanh Niên and Trần Phú have created a leafy and welcoming city.

Hoàng Diệu in the eyes of many people is a beautiful street with many big trees and historical buildings.

People feel comfortable to walk on the sidewalk even on a summer day, as the greenery provides some reprieve from the heat.

Thanh Niên Road runs between the two famous lakes of West Lake and Trúc Bạch with rows of hoa phượng (flamboyant tree) on both sides of the road.

People often come here for fresh air on a summer evening, and it’s a popular meeting-spot for lovers.

For that reason, Thanh Niên road is called the most romantic road in Hà Nội and many people call it the “Road of Love".

With over 2,100 people per square kilometre, the city is the most densely populated in Việt Nam.

The green trees have become an integral part of the city in its process of urbanisation. Thus, the city’s plan to plant one million trees by 2020 was welcomed by local residents.

"The hot weather seems to be lessened when I pass streets covered with trees," Nguyễn Tuấn Hùng, from Thanh Xuân District, told Viet Nam News.

He hoped that more trees would be planted so that road-users would no longer get sweaty while driving.

In an attempt to bolster its eco-friendly image, Hà Nội has started to beautify its major streets with flamboyant trees.

As many as 300 flamboyant trees have been planted on the median strips of major streets in Hà Nội such as Trần Khát Chân, Xã Đàn, Kim Liên-Hoàng Cầu, Láng Hạ and Tây Sơn.

The planting of flamboyant trees is part of a bigger plan to beautify the city by growing one million new trees by 2020, which the Chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee, Nguyễn Đức Chung, unveiled late in May.

The city currently has around 11 parks, and city authorities plan to develop 25 new parks over the next five years.

Saplings preparation

To reach the target of raising the area of greenery from 7sq.m to 10sq.m per person by 2020, the city authority has instructed Hà Nội Forestry Development Centre to review the forest area available for setting up a nursery garden for urban green trees.

According to Tạ Duy Long, deputy director of the centre, the programme on cultivating saplings for urban green trees has brought about positive results.

The centre is caring for an urban tree nursery of about 2,000 plants, including 50 popular species including sao đen (hopea odorata), lim xanh (Erythrophleum fordii), and sấu (Dracontomelon duperreanum).

The plants at the nursery garden developed well, with widespread shadow and strong trunks, despite being planted at a high density, he said.

"Through observing the growth of the plants we found the terrain and climate in Sóc Sơn area is suitable for the development of urban green trees," Long said.

Initial surveys have shown that 30ha out of 1,662ha of unforested land near protected forests in Sóc Sơn District could become nursery gardens, he said.

The area is located in the communes of Tiên Dược, Phù Linh, Quang Tiến, Hiền Ninh, Nam Sơn and Hồng Kỳ, Phù Linh and Minh Phú of the district.

The above-mentioned areas met the conditions to be able to cultivate saplings of urban green trees, having good soil, a moderate slope and particularly it was a convenient location for caring, protecting and moving trees to other places.

The centre has also proposed planting eight trees in the nursery garden, including Taiwanese bàng (terminalia catappa), hopea odorata, Dracontomelon duperreanum and flamboyant tree.

Trịnh Thị Lan, from Sóc Sơn District’s Tiên Dược Commune, said she would take part in the Hà Nội Forestry Development Centre’s project on developing nursery gardens for green urban trees with a number of local households.

"Besides providing saplings, the project will create more income and particularly help building a sustainable ecological system," she told Hà Nội mới (New Hà Nội) newspaper. -- VNS