The Jakarta administration has long been trying to open more public parks and now, after years of searching for available land, it has opened 10 new green spaces, covering 49.33 hectares, or 0.07 percent of the city.

The 10 new parks were launched on Tuesday at a ceremony in Jagakarsa Park in South Jakarta.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama explained that despite the newly opened green spaces, the total area was still far from ideal. With the new additions, he said, Jakarta'€™s green space still accounted for only 9.98 percent of the city'€™s 661 square kilometers, equal to 66,100 ha. The ideal proportion of green space for a city, Ahok said, was 30 percent.

'€œLand procurement is challenging [...] It'€™s difficult to achieve above 10 percent; we have been stuck at 9 percent for several years now,'€ Ahok said during the launch on Tuesday.

The 2007 spatial planning law requires cities to have at least 30 percent green space.

The city administration has plans to increase cooperation with private companies in order to procure more land for green spaces. Ahok said that he could not fully rely on the Parks and Cemetery Agency for land procurement, and would thus cooperate with the private sector.

Since last year the city has cooperated with dozens of private firms'€™ corporate social responsibility programs to develop its 17 child-friendly integrated public space, which can also function as green spaces. An integrated child-friendly public space (RPTRA), consists of not only a playground and assembly room but also a semi-natural green park.

Bylaw No. 8/2007 on public order would also be enforced, Ahok said. Article 12 of the bylaw states that individuals or organizations are prohibited from occupying green lanes, which are open green spaces regulated and monitored by the city administration. There are hundreds of green lanes in Jakarta, the locations of which can be looked up on the city administration'€™s Smart City portal at smartcity.jakarta.go.id.

'€œThere are several buildings built over green lanes. We will make note of such buildings and buy them back at our own price,'€ he said.

Open green spaces consist not only of parks but also cemeteries, green median strips in the middle of divided roads and other patches of greenery around roads. The Jakarta administration this year is also set to develop Plaza Reformasi in East Jakarta'€™s Pondok Ranggon public cemetery, partly as an attempt to increase green spaces but also as a memorial for victims of the May 1998 riots.

Parks and Cemetery Agency head Ratna Dyah Kurniati said that the 10 new green spaces were located in Jagakarsa, Maja, Tanjung, Pesanggrahan, Kalibata Timur and Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta; Cakung, Bambu Apus and Pondok Kelapa in East Jakarta; and Sunter in North Jakarta.

Ratna said the land-acquisition process was difficult for the agency as it involved rigorous negotiation with land owners. For example, she said, the city administration negotiated with a land owner for almost a year before finally acquiring the 5,981-square-meter site for the Jagakarsa park.

'€œWe aim to add at least 60 hectares of green space each year. Hopefully we can achieve this target much quicker with the help of private firms,'€ he said.

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