A city law and order official instructs delman (horse-drawn carriage) operators to leave the National Monument Park (Monas) area in Central Jakarta on Sunday. From Nov. 1, visitors to the park will no longer be able to ride in the carriages, whose dung and smell authorities fear would put off visitors. JP/Nurhayati
Triwik Kurniasari, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Mon, 03/16/2009 4:26 PM
Jakartans can now enjoy the excitement of finding interesting , lesser known locations, including green spaces and historical sites, by using environmentally friendly modes of transportation, by following the recently launched 2009 Jakarta Green Map.
The green map includes 100 places of interest and neighborhoods with green activities located along bus and train routes and bicycle lanes.
Nirwono Joga, who coordinated the making of Green Map Jakarta, said that the map was designed to promote a healthy and sustainable city and features, among other things, green areas, old buildings, rare trees and bird-watching sites.
"We want to encourage people to get to know more about Jakarta, including its green areas," Nirwono Yoga said on Sunday.
"We also encourage them to travel in more environmentally friendly ways, by taking nonmotorized transportation, like walking and riding a bike, or by using public transportation, like the TransJakarta bus or trains," he said.
The 2009 Jakarta Green Map is the fifth edition. The first map, of Kemang, South Jakarta, was made in 2001 by a group of residents, architects and media workers. The second, of Kebayoran Baru, also in South Jakarta, was made in 2002. A year later, Menteng in Central Jakarta, had its turn, while the fourth green map, of Old Town in West and North Jakarta, was made in 2005.
The launch of the green map was marked by a tour of Senayan, in South and Central Jakarta and the Museum Taman Prasasti (Inscription Museum) in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
During the tour, participants had a chance to visit Krida Loka Park and see its big, old and rare trees, which include mahogany, lobi-lobi, tamarind, bay leaf and matoa (Papuan fruits) species.
Besides rare trees, people also viewed birds including parrots and kepodangs, Evi Fadliah, from the Green Monster NGO said.
"Birds in the city often go to this area to get a rest and find food, like seeds and fruits. Many Jakartans don't know about this and it is a good opportunity for us to disperse this information," Evi said.
Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Fri, 02/06/2009 9:09 AM
Mayor’s command post: Two civil servants wait in a tent erected to serve as an office for Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni at National Monument Park on Thursday. (JP/Agnes Winarti)
Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni has snapped into action in the past few days, cleaning up National Monument (Monas) Park, replanting grass and repaving pedestrian walkways, a week after she was berated for incompetence following an inspection of the park by Jakarta’s governor.
After being publicly embarrassed by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo for failing to maintain the park, the mayor, who is known colloquially as 1981 None (Miss) Jakarta beauty pageant Sylvi, promptly assigned her subordinates to set up a tent to serve as a temporary office in the park Tuesday.
“We only have two weeks to restore the park,” Sylvi said, referring to the governor’s deadline set last Thursday.
Fauzi told Sylviana he was tired of empty promises about her plans to clean up the park. “Present your plan to someone else. I am tired of it,” Fauzi said.
He warned that he would make a random inspection of the park, and threatened her with demotion should he not be satisfied with what he saw.
The Jakarta Post observed Thursday that the monument had been given a major face-lift.
“A major restoration is underway; the pedestrian walkways have been improved, the gutters have been dredged and even the dead grass has been replaced with new grass,” said one of the park gardeners.
“Madam mayor was here on Tuesday. She also came here on Wednesday, from around 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. to inspect the park with her subordinates.”
“But then they all returned to their office.”
The mayor also conducted a clean up of the park. She has said her team will place 200 garbage bins in the park and dig 1,000 biopores — holes bored into the ground to absorb rainfall and prevent flooding — within its 80 hectares.
When asked whether she intended to work from the tent, Sylviana said, “I definitely will drop by.”
“The tent is useful to avoid being caught in the rain during my inspections.”
She said the tent served as a meeting room for her and the officials of 13 agencies including the park, sanitation, husbandry, forestry, tourism and culture and public order agencies.
Two other tents were also erected in the park Thursday. The tents are each furnished with a large TV set, a fan, a water dispenser, long tables and benches.
A park officer said the two tents belonged to Harianto Boejuri, head of the city’s public order agency.
Two civil servants from the city’s social agency were seen carrying a blue carpet into one of the tents.
“Madam Mayor asked us to replace the white floor of the tent with blue carpet so that it won’t look so dirty,” the officer said.
Related Articles:
Monas gets endangered Merbau trees
Triwik Kurniasari, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Sat, 01/31/2009 8:36 AM
Ani, 47, and Bayu, 49, sat on a metal park bench under the shade of trees in the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta.
The couple gazed at the capital’s landmark, feeling a soft breeze touch their faces.
“We always come to Monas every week because it’s close to our home in Kebon Sayur [also in Central Jakarta],” Ani said on Friday. “I really enjoy hanging out in Monas to refresh my mind. I like sitting under the big trees, watching the green grass and breathing the fresh air.
“The place is clean. It is much cleaner compared to 20 years ago when I first came to Jakarta. I notice there are many garbage men cleaning the area. That’s good,” she said.
Ani’s husband, Bayu, shared similar thoughts. "The park is clean. I sometimes see falling leaves or branches scattered in the park, but I don’t mind as they are so natural.”
“If there is a used plastic bottle thrown [by a visitor] in the open area, the garbage men will immediately pick it up,” he said, adding that he could easily find garbage bins there.
Their comments were in contrast to those made by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo the day before.
Fauzi was furious to find damaged park lights, dead trees, puddles of water and piles of garbage in some spots in the Monas park when jogging in the vicinity on Thursday at about 5:30 p.m.
He claimed it was not the first time he had noticed the shabby condition of the park but said he preferred to keep silent and hope for an improvement.
"But until today there is no such attempt [from Monas management] to improve this [messy] condition. I’m very disappointed,” Fauzi said, adding that there were too many institutions involved in the maintenance of Monas.
Monas is managed by several city agencies, including the parks and sanitation agencies.
A garbageman, Atok, said he cleaned Monas Park seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. He said holidays were hard days for him, as he found lots of trash scattered around the park.
“We try to do our best to keep the area clean. But visitors sometimes do not put their garbage, like used plastic bottles or Styrofoam food boxes, into the garbage bins. They just throw them anywhere,” he said.
“This is very annoying but we can do nothing about it.”
Earlier this month, Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni said she would ask the city administration to assign her municipality to take over management of Monas in order to better maintain the landmark.
She promised her office would be able to directly control the maintenance of the complex. She said the new management was expected to be effective by the end of the month, pending a gubernatorial decree.
During Thursday's impromptu visit, Fauzi directed Sylviana to make immediate improvements, saying he would be back in the next two weeks to examine it.
The Jakarta Post, Sat, 01/03/2009 10:33 AM
JAKARTA: In preparation for the Asian Mayor Forum in December in Old Town, the West Jakarta municipal administration is tidying up the area's chaotic parking system.
"The first step in developing the Old Town conservation area is to put in place a parking system," Mayor Djoko Ramadhan said, as quoted by Kompas.com on Friday.
He said effective management was needed to make the 840-hectare heritage site a world tourism destination.
Head of the municipality's parking agency, Fausal Kahar, said many visitors to the area parked their vehicles right outside the buildings or on the street.
He said many others parked at a vacant lot in the area.
"The Old Town should be designated for pedestrians. Vehicle emissions could damage the old buildings," Fausal said, "besides, a walking tour would be more impressive."
The administration is currently holding a regular Car Free Day every month.
At least 142 buildings have been named heritage sites in the Old Town, including the Jakarta History Museum, Arts and Ceramic Museum, Wayang Museum, Kota Intan Bridge, Kota Station, Bank Mandiri Museum and Omni Batavia Hotel. -- JP
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 11/14/2008 11:09 AM
In an ambitious new project, the Jakarta administration is turning the erosion process on its head and reclaiming mud from the city's rivers to use as soil for green spaces.
Mounds of mud line the banks of Jakarta's trash-clogged and turbid rivers. Dredged during the daytime, they are trucked each night to a designated site.
Budi Widiantoro, deputy head of the Jakarta Public Works Agency, said the dredged mud was taken to BMW Park in North Jakarta to eventually be used to make way for a green area.
BMW Park was originally designated as a green area during the city's "Clean (Bersih), Humane (Manusiawi), Dignified (Wibawa)" program in the 1960s. But since the early 1990s, as many as 1,400 squatter families took over the land. Last August, the city administration evicted the families in an effort to reclaim the city's green spaces.
The city says it plans to cart mud from 12 out of 13 rivers in Jakarta to the site before turning it into a dedicated park and international stadium.
"The mud will be used to build up the land, after which it will be planted with trees," Budi said.
He added the agency excavated the rivers annually to mitigate flooding, but the start of the project depended on the disbursement of the city budget.
"To dredge the rivers, the agency needs Rp 23 billion (US$2.1 million)," he said.
The project will dredge 243,322 cubic meters of mud from waterways, with operations already underway, running from November through to December.
The city administration will also be helped out by the donation of two used boats from the Dutch government to help in the dredging efforts, Budi added.
The boats will do the actual dredging, with trucks at the ready to cart the mud to the designated dump site.
"The boats are used ones, we will replace them with new ones after the trial period," Budi said.
The public works agency plans to take the mud to designated areas in Ancol and Jembatan Tiga, North Jakarta, if there is no more space at BMW Park.
Beginning next year, the city administration will dredge major rivers in Jakarta, using a US$150 million loan from the World Bank.
"The loan disbursement is still being processed," Budi said.
Jakarta's rivers used to run clean and deep, but as the city developed, the amount of eroded earth and garbage pouring into them caused them to grow shallower and filthier. During the rainy season, areas along riverbanks are prone to flood.
The city's flood-prone areas are: Sunter Agung, Koja, Penjaringan and Rawa Badak in North Jakarta; Bukit Duri, Pondok Karya and Bintaro in South Jakarta; Petamburan, Bendungan Hilir, Kebon Melati, Karet Tengsin, Tanah Abang, Kemayoran, Gunung Sahari Utara and Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta; Rawa Buaya, Kapuk and Tegal Alur in West Jakarta; and Cawang and Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta. (fmb)
Kim Balmanno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the sun rises on a small suburb in Jakarta's south, the street vendors, children and dog-walkers make their way, along with the birds and lizards, to the local park. But this is where the romantic image ends.
In reality, Guntur's park, Taman Tangkuban Perahu, is, at the time of writing, piled high with polystyrene containers, plastic cups, straws, paper and indiscriminate objects, along with copious amounts of dog faeces.
Children must stick to the paths and those that exercise remain in an upright position, choosing to keep only their feet on the ground. There is no one doing sit-ups or sprawling on the grass as expected in an inner city park.
Fathers with their children are squatting on slippery slides and mothers, nannies and children are confined to the seats. The rest of the "green" area is a squalid mess.
Ibu Amerah is the principal at Ampri kindergarten, across the road from the park, on Jl. Merapi.
"We do not let the children play in the park, because we are concerned for their health," Amerah said.
"We can do nothing, it's the responsibility of the lurah (sub-district head) ... and they can't do anything either."
Her small school has 30 children aged between 3 to 6 years. They all play in the grounds of the kindergarten and are left to look out at the park's open space.
An ojek motorcycle taxi driver throws his cigarette butt onto a pile of rubbish. As he does so, he tells me what a disgusting mess the park is. I point to the cigarette and he laughs. Catching hold of the irony, he shrugs.
The park is void of rubbish bins.
"This is so the cart merchants won't steal them," said local resident Lim Sean Hang.
Ten minutes down the road, and crossing the Ciliwung River, the environment transforms into a haven of respite. A water fountain bubbles gently offering tranquility from the constant din of traffic, horns and vendors.
There are roosters in cages and doves in lofts. Statues frame friends talking and people lounge on chairs. The grass looks healthy. There are six cleaners who work from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, emptying the dozens of bins placed strategically around the park; they sweep, rake and provide maintenance. This is Suropati Park in Menteng.
Back in Guntur, Lim rolls his eyes.
"There is VIP living in Menteng, that's why it's always clean there," he said.
A visit to an RT (head of a neighborhood unit) in the Guntur area, Mukti, shed little light on the problem.
"I complained many times to the lurah ... three days later they started cleaning ... but every two days they must clean the park," said Mukti.
At regular meetings between the chief, the RT and the lurah, the rubbish is discussed but words fall and decompose like leaves in the park.
Malisi, the lurah of Guntur, is quick to pass the buck and the bulk of the responsibility onto the parks department.
"It is because the chief of the parks department has for a long time not been active," Malisi said.
"The parks department are responsible for giving to orders to clean the park," he said.
The parks in Manggarai, although dilapidated, seem to provide some fun for children. The "volleyball park" is used as a soccer field and before the overhead light, which hangs precariously over the court, was broken, it was apparently used nightly by adults to play badminton.
"The light was broken by strong winds in December," said Warti, a food vendor at the park, adding the exposed wires could prove dangerous in the current wet season if not fixed.
A man squats in one corner of the "tennis park" in Manggarai, sifting through a pile of old, burnt out and new rubbish. He is collecting remnants of cardboard to sell.
There is graffiti surrounding the park, but the children are laughing and playing on the swings. Despite the rubbish they appear happy to have some green space.
There are 250 students aged between 6 and 12 years at the nearby Manggarai 03 Elementary School.
"I don't bring the students to the parks outside of school time unless there is a sports game between schools. It's a slum area ... the park is not good but at least the children can run and play football," said Principal Maryati.
Manggarai is densely populated with 34,170 people crammed into condensed housing. The parks are an important space to "socialize and exercise" said Sarwo Handhayani, head of the department of city parks.
She added her department was committed to building green areas in each of Jakarta's 265 kelurahan (sub districts).
Since 2000, the department has built 100 communal parks of around 500 to 1000-meters-squared, she said, and would like to build two parks in each area but still had a long way to go.
"It's hard to get the land at the government price. They want to sell it at the market price."
She said the Manggarai community were outraged when two "slum" residents were asked to sell their homes to make way for a green area.
"The residents demanded Rp 9 million. They fought back so the department left them. We have no power," said Rachmati Busuki, the wakil lurah (deputy sub-district head) of Manggarai.
Sarwo said the department planned to buy 10 houses in 2007, but four residents refused to sell and they only managed to convert 5 of the homes into green space.
There are more than 5,000 children, aged between 5 and 14, who live in Manggarai. Teenagers and children currently flock to Taman Situiembang in Menteng with its large pond and chained monkeys. It is a haven for leisure seekers and a well-known hangout for romantics. Locals even throw out a line to fish.
Six cleaners maintain the park from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. There are five workers every day in Surapati Park and, according to Didet Prihadiati from the South Jakarta administration, there are five workers servicing the Manggarai parks eight hours a day.
However, Warti, who has operated her warung for 15 years at the "volleyball" park, says six workers come once a month and clean all of the Manggarai parks in one day.
According to parks department data, the budget allocated in 2007 to maintain and clean the parks in Jakarta was Rp 160 billion.
Sarwo said the 2008 budget for the central area is Rp 20 billion, while Rp 50 to 100 million has been allocated to the newly built Taman Menteng, 40 to 50 million for Suropati Menteng, 15 million for Situiembang Menteng and 2 billion for Monas.
These figures are similar to those of Guntur and Manngarai, but the difference between the parks is immense.
Each of the five locations in Guntur receives Rp 40 million per year, while the 11 locations in Manngarai receive 100 million every three months. This gives each location close to 40 million rupiah each year -- a similar budget to Suropati Park in Menteng.
Despite this, both Rachmati and Sarwo believe the residents should contribute to the parks maintenance. They also say the lack of aesthetics is due to the local residents.
"They don't have enough space to dry their clothes so they put them on the park fence," Rachmati said.
It seems that while Jakarta's green spaces are buried in rubbish, government responsibility is buried in bureaucracy.
The money set aside for cleaning is either not being used or the cleaning contractors are neglecting their obligations. Either way, the children and residents are the ones being left with substandard green spaces.
JAKARTA (Jakarta Post) : The City Park Agency is planning to add around five hectares of land for green lanes in efforts to improve air quality in the capital.
Agency head Sarwo Handayani said it proposed around Rp 40 billion (US$4.2 million) in the 2008 city budget to clear lands to be used for open green spaces.
Governor Fauzi Bowo said the city found it difficult to enlarge the city's existing green areas due to the limited land available in the city.
"We can optimize the already existing parks of the subdistricts," he said as quoted by beritajakarta.com on Sunday.
He said the city should devote around 13.9 percent of its land to open green spaces.
"Currently we only have about 9.6 percent," he said, adding that for every one percent of additional green space the administration would have to clear around 650 hectares.
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II started planting trees Saturday as part of a nationwide re-greening campaign.
In cooperation with the alumni association of the University of Indonesia, the company has plans to re-landscape 25 hectares at the airport and call it "Angkasa Pura II Forest".
"We've set a goal of planting 10 million trees ... to help (mitigate) climate change," said the company's president director Edi Haryoto.
He said the program was the brainchild of Sofyan Djalil, state minister for small and medium enterprises (center, planting a tree), who is also chairman of the alumni association.
The program began with some 36,000 saplings representing nearly one thousand different tree species.
While lawns and groves are often associated with exclusive clubs and housing estates, Sofyan spoke enthusiastically about a program that was for everyone. "There will be more than 500 million trees growing in the country in the next few years if we all start by planting at least one tree now.
"This initiative can help us combat global warming and reduce its impact."
Meanwhile, Edi said the green zones at the airport could serve the same function as a public park and would be suitable for jogging and bicycling.
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta city administration plans to buy barren land plots from their owners and convert them into parks or playgrounds.
Yogyakarta Mayor Herry Zudianto said the city would use funds from the city budget to gradually buy all barren land plots in every subdistrict.
"Even if the size of the plots is only 300 or 400 square meters, we will buy and convert them into parks to realize the vision of 'My Green Yogyakarta'," said Herry.
"We've been planning this for the last two years," he added.
He estimated that each of the 150 villages in Yogyakarta would have at least one park and one playground. However he added that the mayoralty could develop only 10 to 15 parks a year due to limited funds.
The mayor also told The Jakarta Post that to promote the development of the "My Green Yogyakarta" program, which was officially launched over the weekend, the mayoralty and the legislative council were still deliberating an amendment of the bylaw on building permits.
The amendment, expected to be implemented next year, would require residential areas to allocate some portion of land for the development of parks, green spaces and catchment wells.
To motivate residents to make their city green, Herry and dozens of mayoralty officers planted 1,000 seedlings of various plants at road medians and in the yards of schools and places of worship.
"This event is part of a program to plant 30,000 seedlings in cooperation with state-owned forestry company Perum Perhutani," he said while planting seedlings on Jl. Menteri Supeno.
The 30,000 seedlings will be planted gradually, with completion slated for early 2008.
"I won't distribute the seedlings and ask residents to plant them but I'll let those who are eager to participate in the program to ask for some seedlings for their own areas," he said.
The residents' awareness of greening will be priceless for the next generation, he said, adding that the program would make Yogyakarta a city inside parks, not a park inside a city.
"This is our dream, and we will make it come true even though it will take a long time."
