No agency applied at the first tender organized by Temesvár/Timișoara City Hall for equipment to test trees’ reaction to wind. The cost was estimated at approximately EUR 40,000.
The Temesvár/Timișoara City Hall began the procedure at the end of March to acquire a “set of scanners for the evaluation of trees’ health;” but the tender was automatically canceled after no agencies had applied by the deadline.
The Save Romania Union party had suggested the purchase for the 2019 budget, and money had been set aside for it in 2020. There are approximately 160,000 trees in Timișoara, some of which are very old, thus the need to test them and perhaps prune or cut down some weaker ones.
“All these trees are of an advanced age. Thus there are cases when the appearance of a tree shows that it is healthy but the central trunk may be affected. A tomography of these trees could be beneficial for making decisions regarding needed work in light of extreme weather conditions, which have happened lately, that is, storms with winds that sometimes exceeded 100 km/hour, abundant snow weighing down the crowns of trees, and frozen rain, which has appeared during wintertime,” says documentation prepared by the employees of the municipality.
There were plans for the acquisition of both a sonic and an electric scanner and a system for measuring the geometry of the trees, plus the dedicated software. A total of RON 184,450 (@EUR 40,000) was allocated for the equipment. The agency delivering the devices would also have had to hold a one-month training for employees of the municipality to learn how to use the equipment.
In recent years, many trees in Temesvár/Timișoara have suffered fallen branches or been uprooted by storms, showing that the trees are not quite healthy, specialists say. During the storm in September of 2017, authorities counted almost 3,500 trees that had been destroyed by the strong winds.
Featured photo: Opinia Timisoarei
