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The Trakai district municipality administration, implementing the EU-funded project, organized up to five public procurement until it found a contractor to carry out the works. In the first four procurement cases, no bids were received or they significantly exceeded the purchase value.
However, for the fifth time, the Losrita company won the public tender and promised to fix the vegetation of the streets and public spaces of the old town of Trakai according to a simplified technical work project.
The Trakai Municipality started implementing the project in 2018 and received all permits in the summer of 2019. The Vilnius Board of the Department of Environmental Protection was the first to bless this project.
Subsequently, the project was approved by the State Service of Protected Areas, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Administration of the Municipality of Trakai, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Land Service under the Ministry of Agriculture.
2019 In May, Andželika Kriaučiūnienė, representative of the Trakai National Historical Park, also presented specific proposals for actions related to trees or specific places in the city. For example, the desire was expressed not to cross the yew tree without the need; the proposals were taken into account in the draft.
Therefore, as noted by the Trakai District Municipality Administration, the project has been coordinated with all the necessary institutions for almost two years.
Previously publicly announced
The contractor received permission to carry out the felling, transplanting or other removal and pruning of protected trees and shrubs. 9 pm in the morning. The company even received findings from ornithologists that wild birds do not breed in managed or adjacent trees.
Despite the fact that on March 17. By morning, Losrita workers were already preparing the tools needed for the job, and an early call disrupted plans from both the municipality and the contractor. At the last minute, Andrius Šatevičius, director of the Trakai district municipal administration, received a request from the head of the Trakai Environmental Protection Inspectorate of the Vilnius Board of the Department of Environmental Protection to immediately suspend the planned works.
“It was argued that the objective was to verify all the documents and only then would a decision be made on whether the work would be allowed. All of March 17. Until 4 in the afternoon, our administration staff provided the Inspection with all the documents that We were hoping to get accurate answers when it is possible to continue the work, because we are committed to the contractor, “said A. Šatevičius.
The municipal administration was assured that the letter was being prepared, but did not receive a decision at the end of the working day. However, the news about the logging interruption reached Olga Vėbrienė, director of the Department of Environmental Protection (AAD), on her personal Facebook account on the social network.
“We were surprised that the information about the suspension of works was made public, although we had not yet been informed,” said the director of the municipal administration of the Trakai district.
Consider the comments unfounded
The following day, the AAD sent a letter to the contractor and issued a notice stating that the works would be suspended until April 15. respond to complaints. As A. Šatevičius emphasizes, none of the observations made by the AAD regarding the vegetation project are substantiated, and such interference with the wheel arches will only further delay the implementation of the project, which is already significantly delayed.
The notification indicates that the project has not been harmonized in accordance with the requirements specified in the procedure specified in point 87 of the description of the financing conditions of the Operational Program for the Investment of EU Funds.
The director of the Trakai district municipality A. Šatevičius points out that according to the Vegetation Law and 2016. By order of the Minister of the Environment on this point, the draft has been properly prepared if it has been agreed with the Environmental Protection Agency and the municipality, which was done in 2019. in the summer.
The AAD report also notes that the contractor’s application for a permit to conduct logging operations was not submitted in accordance with the requirements; It did not specify the tree species to be felled or pruned or the stem diameters.
“Commission for the Supervision of Public Vegetation of the Municipality of the Trakai District, March 8. After issuing the permit to begin the works, he had no comments, and the commission’s minutes described in detail the condition of the vegetation in each quarter, additionally added taxes and evaluated the condition of the vegetation in detail adding comments to the trees to be felled. . Even a separate paragraph contains an assessment of the state of the vegetation ”, emphasized A. Šatevičius.
Cultural heritage was also taken into account
At the Commission meeting on March 1. A representative of the Vilnius Territorial Division of the Department of Cultural Heritage also participated. He commented on the specific tree management measures – felling, not felling, pruning or preservation – that were taken into account in making decisions for each tree.
“The arguments of both the CRD and the representatives of the Trakai National Historical Park received a lot of attention, they significantly influenced the decisions of the commission, they did not express any categorical objection. In addition, the minutes of the meeting were sent by email. to familiarize yourself with and send feedback to all commission participants by email; no comments or objections were received from the representative of the Department of Cultural Heritage ”, said the director of the municipal administration of the Trakai district.
As A. Šatevičius emphasizes, none of the institutions submitted comments. It also ensures that the municipality implements the project with determination, all stages are carried out and evaluated by competent specialists in their fields, and the municipality does not carry out any arbitrary, unreasonable and uncoordinated logging work.
Following the illegal suspension of the works, the Trakai district municipality administration intends to claim damages from the people who make the illegal decisions. Construction company Losrita also promises to go to court for illegal suspension of works. Damages are estimated to be in the tens of thousands of euros.
