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Timber!: Jakarta sacrifices trees for urban development
In 2014, hundreds of trees in North Jakarta were cut down to make space for the Tanjung Priok-Pluit toll road, while in 2017, around 1,500 trees along the Sisingamangaraja, Sudirman and Thamrin roads also had to be chopped down to make way for the mega MRT Jakarta project.
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A pedestrian walks past felled trees along the sidewalk in the Cikini area in Central Jakarta on Nov. 5, 2019. The Jakarta administration chopped down the trees to make way for its sidewalk renovation project. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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edestrians walking on the sidewalk of Jl. Cikini Raya, Central Jakarta now have to endure scorching sun as the natural shade from lush green angsana trees that previously arose from the middle of the sidewalks are gone.
The Jakarta Forestry Agency recently had to cut down the trees as part of the expansive sidewalk renovation project by the city administration in a bid to provide more spacious and comfortable footpaths for pedestrians, with the Cikini area as one of the locations of the project.
However, the move has left only huge tree stumps in front of the Cikini railway station.
Around half a dozen employees from the agency were seen axing one of the stumps on Tuesday in an attempt to uproot the tree from the sidewalk.
Photos of the tree stumps have caused a stir on social media, with many netizens deploring the situation, pointing out that it took decades for the angsana trees to grow to such a huge size.
Pedestrians walking on the sidewalk have also shared similar thoughts.
“I was surprised when I saw the trees were gone, the sidewalk has now become so barren, dry and hot,” 20 year-old Beci Henung told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
