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Plans laid for Ciliwung River ecotourism
Besides its congested roads, Jakarta is notorious for its polluted waterways
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span>Besides its congested roads, Jakarta is notorious for its polluted waterways. Piles of trash and heavy sedimentation are among the things clogging rivers in the city.
However, the situation seems to have a silver lining for the South Jakarta administration, which plans to transform a section of the city’s main river, the Ciliwung, into an ecotourism spot.
Despite its reputation of being heavily polluted, hopes remain for the Ciliwung — which measures 97 kilometers.
The administration plans to offer various ecotourism activities in Ciliwung and improve the livelihoods of locals.
South Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency head Imron Yunus said the planned area would be about 3 km, from Srengseng Sawah to Jagakarsa Park.
Local communities had initiated similar programs in past years, he said, citing activities such as educational activities for children, with green spaces designated along the river.
The administration will conduct further surveys on activities that could be carried out at the planned ecotourism spot.
“It could be a place for water sports, enjoying Ciliwung by boat, a jogging track on the riverbanks while learning about trees and also a camping ground,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Imron acknowledged the plan was still in its early stages, but he said the agency was eager to realize it by 2020.
“By 2020, we hope tourists will begin to visit the Ciliwung River. For the initial implementation, we would like to propose routine activities once a month,” he said.
The South Jakarta administration will communicate the plan with the Public Works and Housing Ministry Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office (BBWSCC) because the river is under the central government’s authority.
“Our agency’s main task is to promote activities, not to build [infrastructure and facilities],” he said adding that the agency would also collaborate with relevant working units in the administration.
BBWSCC head Bambang Hidayah said he welcomed the idea, as the office was aware of similar ecotourism ideas proposed by the Bogor administration, West Java, for parts of the Ciliwung River and Tangerang regency, Banten, for parts of the Cisadane River.
To realize the project, Bambang explained that the administration should first propose the project design to the BBWSCC, which would issue technical recommendations. The recommendations were among main requirements to obtain a permit from the ministry.
However, the office will issue a recommendation only if the design meets the requirements of river lines, he said.
“Riverbanks are meant to be green open spaces. Basically, we support the idea as long as the green open spaces are not altered,” he told the Post.
Moreover, he also stressed that the city administration needed to rearrange the riverbanks amid land occupation to comply with the requirements.
Land occupation by the riverbanks has long been an issue caused by the rapid urbanization, contributing to worsening floods in the city whenever there is downpour.
The central government and the city administration had agreed in 2013 to mitigate flooding through a normalization program, aimed to expand the Ciliwung River’s capacity.
However, the program has been stalled since Governor Anies Baswedan took office in 2017, as the city administration has not made any progress with land acquisition.
However, Bambang said he had received information from the administration on the 13 hectares needed to continue the river capacity expansion, and that the BBWSCC was surveying the land. Thus, the expansion of the river’s capacity is expected to continue, he said.
In addition, Bambang said ecotourism in the river could happen if the city administration carried out strong efforts to prevent waste and wastewater from entering the river, as no tourists would enjoy traveling on dirty river water.
Henny Warsilah, an urban sociology expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), echoed a similar sentiment, saying that transforming the riverbanks into green open spaces was the first thing that needed to be accomplished.
“If done seriously, involving experts, it [Ciliwung ecotourism] could be realized,” she said.
She went on to stress the importance of collaboration among different administrations because the river streamed across various cities, which influenced water quality. Likewise, inter-institutional collaboration might also boost the plan as once it was executed, it would not only provide ecotourism but also serve as an ecosystem conservation program, Henny added.
