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Depok residents rejoice over new town square
Air-conditioned malls or trendy cafés likely come to mind when the residents of Depok, West Java, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, think of a place to spend time with their families on the weekend
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span>Air-conditioned malls or trendy cafés likely come to mind when the residents of Depok, West Java, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, think of a place to spend time with their families on the weekend.
But a new town square, the first one in the city, is the gem that residents have been longing for amid the scarcity of open spaces in the growing satellite city.
Inaugurated on Jan. 12 by Mayor Mohammad Idris, Depok’s town square welcomes residents, young and old, to gather in the free public space.
Unlike a typical town square, which is located in the heart of a city, the Depok administration has built the square on a 3.9-hectare plot of land within the Grand Depok City housing complex in Cilodong subdistrict to avoid exorbitant land prices downtown.
The town square is accessible by angkot (public minivans) from the Depok bus terminal.
The Depok town square was one of the campaign promises made by Idris and his deputy Pradi Supriatna during their regional election campaign in 2015.
The administration has allocated Rp 360 billion (US$26.35 million) for the project from the city budget since 2017.
Sports facilities available in the park include a jogging track, a futsal field, a basketball court, a skatepark, a BMX track, an outdoor gym and a climbing wall.
Children’s playgrounds, water fountains, toilets, musholla (prayer room) and gazebos are also available.
Thousands of visitors flocked to the park on Sunday morning. As many visited the park in private vehicles, the initially three-lane road in front of the venue was narrowed to two lanes to provide parking spaces.
Rows of motorcycles, estimated at over 300, accrued in the designated parking lot inside the town square.
Visitors were supposed to be welcomed by an orange-lettered “Kota Depok [Depok City]” sign in front of the venue, but some of the letters were reportedly damaged just a day after the inauguration.
All the letters were covered by tarpaulins on Sunday. A note that read "under repair" was stuck onto the Depok administration monument next to the sign.
Aside from the letters, several damaged facilities were also reported, the mayor said.
“There were several cases of property damage observed by CCTV cameras, such as in the water play area where curious children stepped on the water fountain holes thus pushing down the equipment. Some water sprinklers were dislodged,” Idris said in a recently aired interview on Kompas TV.
The water fountain, scheduled for the weekend only, halted operation on Sunday.
In response to the property damage, the administration has implemented opening hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
The Depok Public Forest Park Technical Management Unit (UPT), the park’s management, is cooperating with the Depok Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and the Depok Transportation Agency to monitor the venue daily, according to UPT head Purnomo.
“The implementation of operational hours is intended for security and public facilities maintenance,” he said on Friday, wartakota.tribunnews.com reported.
Local resident Iwan Setiawan, 44, who went to the town square with his wife and 7-year-old daughter, said it provided him and his family a new leisure-time option.
Iwan said he would visit the town square often as it was located near his residence and provided places for his daughter to explore. He used to go to Pakansari Sports Center, which is managed by the Bogor regency in West Java, for weekend recreational activities.
Another Depok resident, Yuni, said she would be willing to go often despite living some 10 kilometers away from the park.
“Usually, I take my children to swimming pools or shopping malls. Now there are interesting playgrounds here,” she said while watching her daughter play in the sand in a small area made to look like a beach.
High schooler Muhammad Zidane, 16, who visited the park with his friends said he enjoyed the sports facilities in the venue but the packed park was a turnoff for him.
The residents also pointed out the lack of trees and places for shelter during sunny and rainy days.
“This place is too hot in the afternoon and would be very difficult for visitors to take shelter in during a downpour,” Iwan said. "Some also still litter in the area.”
Twelve cleaning officers, divided into two shifts a day, go back and forth to ensure the square is clean as thousands pass through the venue, a cleaning officer said.
More than 70 street vendors had set up to take advantage of the influx of people. They offered food and beverages outside of the gates.
Fitria Monalisa, who sells ice syrup at Rp 3,000 a glass, said she earned a gross revenue of Rp 500,000 the day the inaugural event took place.
“Weekdays are less crowded, so I only come here to sell beverages on the weekend. Traders are not allowed to sell inside the park because [officials] said it would cause visitors to litter,” she said.
Depok, with its sprawling, patchwork development, still struggles to meet the demand for public green space. The Depok administration has recorded 3,732 ha of designated green space, or 18.63 percent of the city’s total 20,029 ha of land.
The number is far below the 30 percent green space required by the 2007 Spatial Planning Law, according to nonprofit organization the RTH Movement (Green Spaces Movement) last month.
