Sheet piles construction on some drains and rivers in Central Jakarta has damaged the parks around the construction sites, such as on Jalan Abdul Muis, Jalan Cideng, Jalan Gunung Sahari, and Utan Kayu River. Besides cutting down thousands of trees, the project is also damaging the parks.

The coordination done is very less. If the Public Works Sub-Department wanted to build sheet piles, it should have not burdened us to allocate budget to repair the damaged parks

Responding this, Head of Central Jakarta Parks Sub-Department, Jansen Saragih, assessed that such a thing happens due to lack of coordination between related units as the project implementers.

“The coordination done is very less. If the Public Works Sub-Department wanted to build sheet piles, it should have not burdened us to allocate budget to repair the damaged parks,” he stated, Thursday (11/6).

One of the damaged parks is Jembatan Serong Park which equipped with children’s playground. Its condition is very poor now because it is utilized as place to store material goods and also dorm for the construction workers.

“Whereas, we had budgeted Rp 500 million to repair that park. But because of the ongoing project, we had to postpone the plan. Now, we’re collecting data of damaged parks and will propose budget to repair them next year,” uttered Saragih.

Based on Central Jakarta Parks Sub-Department data, it is recorded that as many as 1,035 trees are affected by this project. Those trees consist of 46 trees on Jalan Abdul Muis, 187 trees on Jalan Gunung Sahari Raya, and 802 trees alongside Utan Kayu Cempaka Putih River.