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Public awaits accessible, better managed GBK Urban Forest
Family time: Visitors hang out at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Urban Forest on Sunday morning
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Family time: Visitors hang out at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Urban Forest on Sunday morning. (JP/Sausan Atika)
Earlier this year, Jakartans were awed when the concept for an urban park located inside the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports complex in Jakarta was introduced on Instagram.
Called Hutan Kota GBK (GBK Urban Forest), was built on land once designated for a commercial golf driving range as part of the GBK’s revamp ahead of the 2018 Asian Games.
Despite its name, the GBK Urban Forest does not quite meet the definition laid out in Government Regulation No. 63/2002 on urban forests, which states that an urban forest must be determined through a gubernatorial decree. To date, it has yet to be officially recognized as an urban forest by a gubernatorial decree.
A vacant two-story building is the centerpiece of the park, standing against a backdrop of high-rise buildings on one of the city's main thoroughfares, Jl. Sudirman. A fishpond with a small waterfall is located in front of the building.
Wooden benches can be found on a small man-made hill, arranged to resemble an amphitheater overlooking an oval stage.
Enjoyed by the public within just months after the GBK’s revamp, some parts of the picturesque park is now temporarily closed for another revitalization project.
The 4.6-hectare urban park comprises 3.2 ha managed by hospitality group Plataran Indonesia and 1.3 ha by the GBK Complex Management Center (PPK GBK). Plataran is conducting a revitalization project of Hutan Kota Plataran (Plataran Urban Forest) on the land it manages.
Plataran Indonesia’s corporate assistant marketing communication manager, Rhany Montolalu, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that the newly revitalized park would include a restaurant, coffee shop, glass-enclosed room, pet playground, jogging track, ponds and a mushola (prayer room), among other facilities.
With brick walls erected around the revocation site, curious visitor Novelia said she was worried the park would no longer be accessible to the public.
“The [revitalized] park would be delightful, but because this is a public facility, there’s really no need for barriers. It just makes [visitors] feel closed off,” she told the Post on Sunday morning while visiting the GBK urban forest.
PPK GBK president director Winarto assured that the park would still be open to the public.
“All [park areas] must be open; that’s our commitment,” he said.
Rhany expressed a similar sentiment.
“It [park] would be open [to the public], but there are several paid facilities inside,” she said.
Drawing inspiration from Central Park in New York City, the most visited urban park in the United States, Hutan Kota Plataran is scheduled to open on Dec. 19.
Central Park, which covers more than 300-ha, is managed by the nonprofit Central Park Conservancy, established in 1980. Aside from lush surroundings of over 18,000 trees and plants, the park boasts lakes and bridges, monuments, baseball fields, playgrounds, amphitheaters, museums, a café and a restaurant.
To stay relevant with its urban forest concept, Plataran has planted over 800 trees and plants, including pulai (blackboard) and ketapang kencana (Madagascar almond) trees, Rhany said, although many have yet to grow to their full height.
Next to the under-construction area, bordered by a 1-meter-high mound lies another part of the urban forest managed by the PPK GBK.
Aside from a small pond and several wooden benches placed on the mound, there are no other facilities available on site. The toilet does not function and the kiosks are still closed.
"Trees are lacking, it's so hot in here. It is not clean, either," Novelia said, referring to litter and dry leaves left scattered on the ground.
Winarto acknowledged that the PPK GBK was not yet prepared to renovate the area.
“We don’t have a plan just yet,” he said.
The GBK Urban Forest stands on land categorized as a Zona Hijau Rekreasi (Green Space Recreational Zone) to accommodate various sports and recreational activities and should be accessible to the public based on Jakarta’s 2014 Detailed Spatial Plan (RDTR) bylaw.
The lack of green spaces in the capital has been a long-standing issue, with the city struggling to meet its 30 percent green space requirement. Only 10 percent of Jakarta’s total area is made up of green space, about 7 percent of which is owned by the public sector and 3 percent by private entities, according to the Jakarta Forestry Agency’s 2015 data.
The agency has a record of 28 urban forests spread across five municipalities covering a total of 171.36 ha as of Jan. 31. Among the popular ones are Srengseng and the University of Indonesia in the satellite city of Depok, West Java, and the Cibubur campground in East Jakarta.
The city administration seeks to develop 200 urban parks by 2022. Revitalization projects are also in the works for 17 public cemeteries that will be turned into public parks.
