In the opinion of Kaspars Adomaitis, a member of the Environmental Protection Committee of the Seimas, green roofs on apartment buildings should be encouraged, but they cannot be installed at the expense of natural greenery.
The parliamentarian regrets that on Wednesday the Environmental Protection Committee of the Seimas, which considered the amendments to the Greenery Law, voted, according to him, "that green roofs can be contrasted with natural greenery, and can be expanded at their expense."
"I presented a compromise proposal, in my opinion, to fully maintain the norms of natural greenery, at least in the residential areas of the cities, preventing trickery and expansion by showing green roofs in the construction visualizations. Unfortunately, even this compromise was rejected (2 in favor, 5 abstentions). The environment committee voted that green roofs can be contrasted with natural greenery and can be expanded at their expense," says Seimas Freedom faction member K. Adomaitis.
According to him, according to the current procedure, it will be possible to build apartment buildings with green roofs by reducing natural greenery, that is, 1/6 of all greenery can be abandoned by installing a green roof.
"As far as I know, green roofs are not compared to greenery anywhere in the world. Green roofs are encouraged by subsidies, by reducing real estate taxes, by allowing the introduction of an additional floor, sometimes (where it is really bad) by mandatory requirements. But nowhere are green roofs installed at the expense of natural greenery," K. Adomaitis told Elta.
He regrets that in Lithuania it is blindly allowed to reduce greenery by installing green roofs, which look beautiful in visualizations, but in reality this is often not the case.
"Green roofs and walls are needed in cities and territories where ecosystem functions are in extremely poor condition. In Lithuania, there is no legalized methodology to assess the state of the urban ecosystem, but it is blindly allowed to reduce greenery by installing green roofs. Maintenance of green roofs is not established anywhere in Lithuania, and their quality is described. That's why we see beautiful visualizations in the projects, but in reality it increases the costs of building maintenance, residents simply tend to tear down the roofs, and possibly even the fallen stones serve as urban greenery", says K. Adomaitis.
According to the parliamentarian, the installation and maintenance of green roofs should be regulated.
"I am for green roofs. They must be encouraged, subsidized, assessed to what extent they contribute to the urban ecosystem, and maintenance of green roofs (and walls) described and established. The granted benefits must be canceled if the green roof is not maintained and canceled," K. Adomaitis asserts.
Jadvyga Bieliavska (ELTA)
