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Kota Tua river to become Jakarta’s Cheonggyecheon
The Jakarta administration is planning to turn a 600-meter stretch of the Krukut River in West Jakarta into a clean river with a public park, inspired by Cheonggyecheon creek in Seoul, South Korea.
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Illustration of the Kali Besar Park design by PT Budi Lim Arsitek. The Jakarta administration wants to turn Krukut river along Jl. Kali Besar Timur in West Jakarta into a public space. (Courtesy of UPK Kota Tua/File)
T
he Jakarta administration is planning to turn a 600-meter stretch of the Krukut River along Jl. Kali Besar Timur and Jl. Kali Besar Barat in West Jakarta into a clean river with a public park, inspired by Cheonggyecheon creek in Seoul, South Korea.
The head of the Kota Tua Zone Management Unit (UPK Kota Tua), Norviadi Setio Husodo, said recently that renowned architect Budi Lim had designed the river to become a tourism attraction. “It is inspired by the creek in South Korea,” Norviadi told The Jakarta Post.
He referred to Cheonggyecheon, a modern public recreation space in downtown Seoul, South Korea.
“We want the river area to become a new space so visitors are not centered in Fatahillah Square,” he said.
According to a concept document received by the Post on Monday, Jl. Kali Besar Timur will be turned into Kali Besar Park. PT Budi Lim Arsitek’s presentation said the concept would make the river into an area of “inhabitation, recreation, and education”. The Kali Besar revitalization will reportedly involve “calming down the road”, meaning that the currently straight road would be altered so it was windy to reduce the speed of the vehicles to 12 to 15 kilometers per hour without traffic.
The riverbanks will be turned into an “urban park and water farm” and leaf-shaped floating pontoons will be installed along the river.
To clean the smelly and polluted river water, Lim will install a filter so the water flowing into the Kali Besar Park area will be clean.
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said the project would not use the city budget, but would be funded using Rp 270 billion (US$20 million) in compensation payments from the Sampoerna Strategic building owners after they increased their floor area ratio.
To make way for the river revitalization, the city administration relocated about 400 street vendors along Jl. Kali Besar Timur to Jl. Cengkeh. The street vendors have seen their income plunge in the new location, which receives no foot traffic, but the city administration has promised that the revitalization would eventually reach Jl. Cengkeh and visitors were expected to come to the street vendors in the future. (jun)
