Tree planting, transport, Civaqua: the mayor of the city talks about the Green Debrecen program – with photos

Debrecen – The tree planting program continues, but the city is also working directly for environmental protection with the transport development and the Ciqua program.

In the autumn of 2019, at the beginning of the new municipal cycle, the city government announced a new environmental policy. Ambitious plans have been formulated: the Green City program is a key element of the Debrecen 2030 program, but in addition to the development of green areas, emphasis is also placed on afforestation, said László Papp at Thursday’s press conference.

Photo: Szabolcs Kander

The mayor recalled that the landscaping of the Goose Garden had been completed, the works had been completed in the Old Garden, the Salt House, the Sestakert, the Tócóvölgy would be completed soon, the development of the New Garden was underway, and work was beginning in the Tócósk.

The mayor said the current tree planting program for fall 2021 and spring 2022 has planted and will plant a total of 5,639 small trees.

– If we plant ten thousand trees in Debrecen, it will mean 32 hectares of shaded area, and it will be able to store 450 tons of fly ash a year

László Papp pointed out.

Transport development is also part of environmental policy

In addition to green spaces, transport development is also important in this regard, as it is also a very important factor in the city’s sustainability parameters. The mayor pointed out that there had previously been questions about the development of Bethlen Street University Avenue in connection with the disappearance of green space there.

“Bethlen Street has a short section that would eliminate 700 square feet of green space as it widens the road. It is important to know that the various developments in Debrecen are built on each other, the development of the Bethlen Street-University boulevard, that serves the purpose that the city boulevard system is still important to operate – László Papp called attention.

He explained that these two streets intersect the major and minor roads, and their task is to be able to connect traffic to the roundabouts as smoothly as possible, and this requires adequate capacity, so they decided to widen these two roads. In parallel, the construction of the third, final section of the small road, which will surround the narrow downtown, is underway.

– In order to be able to make decisions about traffic calming, the infrastructure must be raised to an appropriate level beforehand, so the roads connected to the roundabouts will be renovated, which will be in order.

After that, it is possible to think about whether we bring diseases in the narrow downtown area surrounded by the small roundabout, which provide alleviation, a given case – explained László Papp.

He emphasized that this is also possible on the northern side of Piac Street and Kossuth Street, this is on the agenda, this section will be part of the Debrecen pedestrian zone in the future. The mayor predicted that the reality would be that the section between Poss Street between Kossuth-Széchenyi and Miklós-Szent Anna would be traffic-free first, and then the section from St. Anna to Erzsébet Street could be the next one to be connected to the pedestrian zone.

The mayor indicated that with these processes Debrecen can also join the international trends aimed at reducing and dampening traffic in the city centers. But he added:

“since we are not drawing the roads here, we are building them, we provide the necessary preconditions first, and only then do we make the decisions.”

The mayor gave the example of the part of Bethlen Street between Hatvan and Mester Street, which could also be considered as a traffic calming section, as the third section of the small circuit will be built in parallel.

Civaqua opens new settings

László Papp also talks about the Civaqua program as part of the environmental program.

“This new HUF 6 billion investment will open the administrative area and choice of the new area of ​​Debrecen within two years, the dynamic development of the districts along the Tócó River and the solution of the water supply of the lakes on the eastern side of the city,” he said.

This will also allow for the design of tens of square meters of green space during the construction of the second phase, already water can incorporate green space improvements.

The mayor said the planned solar park will further strengthen the city’s sustainability.

A large-capacity solar park will be established on an area of ​​52 hectares, on the south side of the airport, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Debrecen from 33,000 a year.

goods in the city will replace obsolete buses, from 2022 a bus fleet in line with current car environmental requirements will be in operation in the city, complete with 12 electric cars.

Forests will protect Debrecen from dust pollution

Deputy Mayor Ákos Balázs talks about the fact that the area of ​​forest cover in the inner area of ​​Debrecen is 34 percent, there are almost 16 thousand hectares of forest in the city.

– A total of 5.5 million square meters of green space. We have inherited from our ancestors the qualities we want to nurture, develop and maintain. That is why it is important to bring water to the Great Forest and expand the size of our afforested areas, he emphasized.

He stressed

the establishment of a protective forest is also important due to the dust pollution that is of interest to the fields. The public procurement procedure will be announced for this year, and the planting of the trees may begin in the spring.

This will affect the area next to Vértessy Castle, the area of ​​Vincellér Street and the area behind Derék Street, Tócóvölgy, and small trees will also be planted at the end of Vezér Street. With this, 40,000 small trees planted by the forestry method will be located in Debrecen as part of the protected forest.

Ákos Balázs said that an initiative will be launched in the spring, the people of Debrecen will be able to adopt trees. The seedling is provided by the city, and the adopter can easily take care of the tree through an application.