he much-criticized artificial trees and decorative lamps that were recently installed along the sidewalks of Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta were procured during the administration of former governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, an official has said.
Jakarta Industry and Energy Agency head Yuli Hartono said on Monday that the tree-shaped decorative lights “were bought using money allocated from the 2017 budget”.
In 2017, Yuli added, the city had spent Rp 573 million (US$41,000) to purchase 63 decorative tree lights, each of which was Rp 8.2 million.
The decorations had been installed on sidewalks along Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta, but were removed several days later after criticism that it impeded pedestrians.
However, Yuli said the agency would likely reinstall the imitation trees to decorate the city ahead of the 2018 Asian Games in August.
“I’ll talk to the [Central Jakarta] mayor and other agencies [forest and tourism] to decide whether to install the trees on the sidewalks again,” he said as quoted by tribunjakarta.com. (vla)
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