Malaga city council transplanted the unique and large ficus tree on Avenida Arroyo de los Ángeles, popularly known as "the Materno hospital ficus", in the early hours of Friday, 18 September.

Its transfer to the southern roundabout of the La Rosaleda shopping centre was necessary due to the construction of the third section of the metro extension to Hospital Civil.

The complex operation, in which the regional government of Andalucía and the city council collaborated, took place from midnight until well into the early hours of the morning.

The tree is a Ficus lyrata, of which there are several in the area, although it is not very common among the urban tree species in Malaga city.

Its trunk is large and in good enough condition to withstand this change of location, which is generally very traumatic for mature plants.

This operation has allowed workers to reroute and replace a series of services (water, sanitation, etc.) that are necessary before the start of the metro tunnel excavation.

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