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Interim Jakarta governor plans to 'regreen' Monas
Heru unveiled the plan following his meeting with State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir who pledged to provide assistance for the project, which overall will give a new look to Jakarta's best-known landmark.
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Interim Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono is pictured in his office at City Hall in this file photo. (kompas.com/Alsadad Rudi )
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nterim Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono said on Thursday that he would order a project to replant trees at the National Monument (Monas) Square, which he claimed had been cut down to make way for projects initiated by his predecessor Anies Baswedan.
Heru unveiled the plan following his meeting with State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir who pledged to provide assistance for the project, which overall will give a new look to Jakarta's best-known landmark.
The interim governor said that he would also engage in a consultation with the State Secretariat on the new design for what is Jakarta's public square.
"We will draw a new design with the State Secretariat, because Monas belongs to the Central Government," Heru said as quoted by Kompas.com.
Erick meanwhile said that the project would be a complete overhaul of the current lay-out, which he described as not "green" enough.
"With the design [...] we hope it will be completely green. Not like what we have today," Erick said.
In 2019, then-governor Anies planned to build a plaza in the southern part of the square, a project that would involve the cutting down of 205 trees.
The move was soon met with criticism, including from Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who blasted the removal of several decades-old trees.
The Presidential Palace also ordered Anies to halt the project, but the governor pressed ahead with the plan.
