Government begins removing beloved toa trees in Matavera – Cook Islands News

Toa trees that were removed yesterday at a site next to Takitumu Primary School. The removal of the toa trees at the school is expected to start Tuesday. MELINA ETCHES/21011119

Resident Renall Vogel, who has been vocal against thedestruction of the toa trees, was devastated to see the trees being cut down.

Vogel was stunned and at a loss for words in the earlymorning.

He said the advertisement Infrastructure Cook Islands (ICI)placed in Fridays edition of Cook Islands News advising public of the tree removalwas not clear.

ICI have manipulated the public with their advert that readMain Road Upgrade Takitumu School, there is nothing about the trees, so theyare not being transparent, Vogel said.

It is a big project and intentionally they are not informingthe community properly, if they are not transparent, how do they deal withpeople?

This is not what we want from government departments. We dont want this kind of arrogant leadership, be transparent.

Still disturbed by the removal of the trees, he hopes thatwhen the Takitumu School trees are removed, the tree timber is given to theschool to benefit from its sale.

Vogels father Papa William (Ve) Vogel agreed the toa treesthat were planted for the school must be given to the school who can use themoney from its sale. He said the timber should not be taken out of the village.

Vogel is asking parents to take their children to the schoolarea this morning (Tuesday) and to meet at the utu tree for a photo, so it canbe recorded as part of the special history of Matavera before the trees aretaken down.

Infrastructure Cook Islands held a public consultation inDecember to present their final proposal for the Takitumu School main roadupgrade.

Last month, Secretary of Infrastructure Diane Charlie-Punaconfirmed the toa trees that are sitting within the road corridor would beremoved.

Toa trees that were removed yesterday at a site next to Takitumu Primary School. MELINA ETCHES/21011118

The proposal included the widening of the road to the trueboundary of 10 metres legal road corridor.

People in the community against the removal of thewell-known toa trees had wanted other options to be considered in an effort tosave them.

However, Charlie-Puna had said the majority understood theimportance of the removal of the trees that was explained by Infrastructurerepresentative Sonny Williams.

But some in the community including Vogel, the formerchairman of Takitumu School, were disappointed with governments decision.

Infrastructures proposal in December said they would caterto the communitys requests as best as they could without compromising the mostparamount factor safety.

Charlie-Puna earlier said: Safety is always the main driverof any infrastructure design and consultation with the public will always bethe approach we take and not use the Infrastructure Act to push our agendasthrough to our people.

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Government begins removing beloved toa trees in Matavera - Cook Islands News