About 80 residents of Rivne came out to protest against the city council's plans to turn part of the park into a parking lot for 20 new diesel minibuses.
To do this, they plan to remove 20 trees, Eco.Rayon reports.
It is noted that on Thursday, 29 February, at the city council session, deputies will vote on the transfer of the green area to the utility company Rivnelectroautotrans for the arrangement of a parking lot.
It is noted that a similar project was already brought to the session of the city council, but due to the protests of local residents, the decision was postponed.
Olha Lyashchuk, the project coordinator of the public organization "Ekoklub", noted that the activists have prepared an appeal to the deputies of the Rivne Council with the demand not to vote for this decision. In the first day, 150 citizens signed it.
Lyashchuk emphasized that when the city decided to take a loan for the purchase of minibuses, the Department of Infrastructure claimed that they had all the infrastructure to service them. However, it turned out that this is not so.
According to her, the transformation of the park into a parking lot contradicts the approved city plan for sustainable energy development and climate. In particular, the plan envisages the development of green spaces in the city and the transition to electric transport.
In addition, the square belongs to the recreation area and creates a buffer zone between the motor vehicle enterprise and residential buildings. That is, its trees protect people from the negative impact of emissions.
"There is not a significant portion allocated for the buses. Two buses will park on the territory, the rest are at the exit. If you park those twenty buses, then literally 20 trees will be removed. Look at these trees. They are mistletoe, dry," he argued for the decision about the parking lot chief engineer of KP "Rivneelektroavtotrans" Oleksandr Lytvynyuk.
He also noted that this park was once planted by the company's employees and they are still taking care of it.
It is noted that the citizens are sceptical that this will be the last time the park will be cut down. As of 28 February, more than 200 Rivne residents have signed a petition to preserve the park.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in 2023, about 10 trees were cut down in the courtyard of a high-rise building at 55 Sichovykh Striltsiv Street in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv to build a car park.
