T

he Jakarta administration is planning to conduct a massive clean-up of the degraded and dirty Ciliwung River starting in December, in order to mitigate the flooding that plagues the city annually. Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama claimed that the city would be relentless in cleaning up the Ciliwung and its banks.

'€œWe will start cleaning up the river in December. The operation will go on for at least a year,'€ Ahok said on Friday.

The governor explained that the city would cooperate with soldiers from the Jakarta Military Command (Kodam) in cleaning up the river, adding that the soldiers would not only help to clean up the river, but also make sure that residents stopped throwing their waste into it.

He went on to say that the city would also hire scavengers to help with the operation.

The Ciliwung River is 120 kilometers long with a 387-square kilometer watershed. The river runs through South and East Jakarta and also through Depok, Bekasi and Bogor in West Java. Thousands of squatters have built homes on the banks of the Ciliwung, decreasing the river'€™s water-catchment area when it overflows. The river is also filled with trash.

The city administration has on numerous occasions made efforts to clean up the river and widen its water-catchment area. For example, the city administration plans to '€œnormalize'€ the river by dredging and widening it where it runs through Kampung Pulo and Condet in East Jakarta. The city is currently building a rusunawa (low-cost apartment building) to house relocated Kampung Pulo residents.

The city is also developing a 1.27-kilometer underground tunnel connecting the Ciliwung to the East Flood Canal (KBT) in order to lighten the river'€™s load.

However, the city'€™s efforts have been hampered by the issue of land acquisition, with many residents refusing to be relocated, causing efforts to be delayed.

Meanwhile, the city'€™s most indigent continue to squat on the banks of the Ciliwung and residents continue to dispose of their waste in the river.

'€œWe must stop this habit of disposing of trash in the river. This is what degrades our rivers and causes annual flooding,'€ Ahok said.

Meanwhile, Kodam Jakarta chief of staff Brig. Gen. Teddy Laksmana said that more than 1,100 soldiers were ready to help the city administration to clean up the Ciliwung.

'€œAs a regional military command, we must help the city administration. We will help the city to clean up the Ciliwung River starting in December,'€ Teddy said.

He added that the military command headquarters would deploy 1,155 soldiers in the operation and also enlist 2,000 residents to help them.

Ahok explained that once the river was clean, the city administration intended to develop it as an ecotourism destination.

'€œWe will build piers along the river and procure boats so people can tour or travel on the river. We will also develop jogging tracks along the Ciliwung, like on the KBT in East Jakarta. These projects will be included in the 2015 city budget,'€ he said.