T

he West Java administration was quick to join the river revitalization bandwagon following President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s call for the city’s rivers to be made as attractive as the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has revealed plans to give a face-lift to the Kalimalang River that flows through Bekasi in West Java.

Ridwan also said his administration would allocate up to Rp 50 billion (US$3.4 million) to turn the river into a world-class tourist destination.

“Bekasi does not have many choices for tourist destinations, but it has its waterways. So, we will revitalize them,” he told journalists in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday.

Through his Instagram account @ridwankamil, Ridwan vowed to accelerate the plan, saying that the project would begin the design phase and project planning next week.

No details have been revealed on when the budget will be disbursed, but Bekasi Environment Agency head Jumhana Luthfi was upbeat that the municipality would soon kick off the project. The plan, laid out in the Detailed Engineering Design, includes a fountain and green spaces along the waterway, in addition to removing trash and excess sediment from the river.

“The plan is ready. As soon as we get the funds, we can start the project,” he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The Bekasi administration has also established a team overseeing the project comprising several agencies, including the Environment Agency, Tourism and Culture Agency and the Public Works and Housing Agency.

President Jokowi expressed hope that the heavily polluted Ciliwung River that flows through Jakarta could be as clean as the Cheonggyecheon.

“The Cheonggyecheon river inspires us, [we hope] that the Ciliwung can also be as clean. We can achieve it. In 2003, [Cheonggyecheon] was in a similar state to the Ciliwung, but it is now clean,” Jokowi said on Tuesday during his tour in Seoul on his state visit to South Korea.

Although the Kalimalang’s condition is not as bad as the heavily polluted Ciliwung, the Bekasi administration still has a lot of homework to do, experts have said.

Trisakti University urban expert Nirwono Joga said the rivers flowing in Greater Jakarta were far away from the Cheonggyecheon’s standards.

“Revitalizing waterways can’t happen instantly,” he said.

Nirwono highlighted that regional administrations needed to address basic problems beforehand, such as poor coordination among neighboring areas. The 20-kilometer Kalimalang flows through two provinces in Cawang, East Jakarta and Bekasi, West Java. Therefore, better coordination between the administrations is needed to clean the river.

Moreover, as residents’ habit of dumping waste into the river has not changed at all, the government needs to take concrete action to complement its ambitious plans, he added.

Meanwhile, spatial planning expert from Trisakti University Yayat Supriyatna also warned that a grand plan to revitalize rivers must be sustainably managed and funded, as projects would take years to complete.

He also noted that culture is important in ensuring the river stays clean.

“[Can a clean] waterway, like in Seoul, create a river-loving culture?”

“The government needs to anticipate and mitigate trash and industrial pollution. Don’t let the waterway become as smelly as Kali Item,” Yayat said, referring to the colloquial name of the Sentiong River in Kemayoran, North Jakarta, the black appearance and pungent smell of which prompted authorities to cover it with a black nylon net to lessen its odor during the 2018 Asian Games. (stu)