The river, called the Busa River by locals, is located on the border of Bekasi regency and Bekasi city.

“It’s been [in such a condition for] four to five months. Before, the water still flowed and carried the waste away before it got stuck somewhere,” Arifudin, head of community unit (RW) 021, said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.

Residents of RW 021 and four other RWs located along the river have yet to clean up the river as heavy equipment would be needed to do so.

“We proposed the regency administration supply heavy equipment in January, but to no avail. Besides, it would be difficult to get heavy equipment into the area because of the many squatters on the riverbank,” Arifudin said.

He said almost 60 squatter families had been recorded as living on the riverbank in 2018. 

This is not the first time a river has been covered in waste in Bekasi. Previously, the Pisang Batu River in Pahlawan Setia village, Tarumajaya subdistrict, was also in the spotlight as 1.5 kilometers of the river’s surface was covered in 50 centimeters deep of waste.

The river was cleaned up in December, taking the local administration a month to finish the project.(iwa)

Popular

What Indonesia can learn from the Iran–Israel war

Analysis: Indonesia’s competitiveness ranking falls amid weakening fundamentals

US, Colombia recall top diplomats as rift deepens