Almost half of the new trees will compensate for the losses suffered in the ‘ice rains’ of Winter 2010. Another 99 thousand shrubs will be planted as well, with an additional 153 hectares of lawns. A few years ago, ecology experts stated that the City was basically wasting money on greenery, as a mere half of the plants took root in the Moscow streets. This was in part true, since contractors were in a hurry to get their work done and did not care how much of what they planted actually saw the light of day. They also picked the cheapest saplings. Wherever they saw deadwood instead of green leaves, they wrote it off as collateral damage and waited for new contracts from the city. Kulbachevsky assured us that from now on the contractor only gets paid if the greenery has taken root. There are new quality standards for the saplings as well. Since Moscow climate has become hotter in the summer and only 60% of spring plants survive, the major part of planting will take place after August. However, the first new plants will arrive in the streets of Moscow on City Clean-Up Days, due 21 and 28 April.

This year, says Kulbachevsky, the first 3-5 rooftops will become green as part of a pilot project, designed to follow Oslo and Helsinki, where climate is similar to Moscow.

“80% of Moscow roofs are slanted, and this causes extra problems”, he told the press. Ecologists say that new technology such as vertical greening will take care of this. “I think we can find about 20 city-owned buildings that we can make green”, said the Department Head.

Renovation of Natural Reserves continues. Last year 90 thousand cubic meters of litter were removed, with a further 12 thousand this year, and another 6 thousand to be cleared by end-April.

Natural Reserves will be fitted with 55 playgrounds and 12 sports grounds, new walking paths, some 50 km of bicycle paths in Izmailovsky Park, Tsaritsino, Bitza Forest, Teply Stan and other green zones. Muscovites will have more picnic spots: 89 new to be added to the existing 158. The green zones will feature beaches and fishing spots.

Project Group №5