Jakarta Holds Mass Cleanup Action in Anticipation of Rainy Season

Entering the rainy season, the Jakarta Provincial Government ensures that rivers, reservoirs, embungs (artificial lake), and channels, and storm dorms in the residential area can function optimally.

On a community scale, residents will be encouraged to drain drainage in their respective homes

It was realized through Mass Community Service activities on Sunday, November 19, 2023, simultaneously in five areas of Jakarta.

The acitivity with the theme 'Bakti Kita untuk Jakarta' (Our Service to Jakarta) carries out cleaning of water channels, from gutters to canals or rivers. Participants in the activity were all levels of society from the city, sub-district, urban village, RT/RW levels, as well as all government employees at the mayoral, regency, and PPSU levels.

PPSU and Locals Join Effort to Clean Up Kembangan Utara Environment

Jakarta Water Channel (SDA) Agency Acting Head, Ika Agustin said the cleanup action was done to educe the potential for flooding due to piles of garbage and sediment in channels which make rivers shallower.

"The government is aware that one of the reasons water overflows from rivers is the shallowing of river beds due to sedimentation. So, alert steps are needed to anticipate all possibilities that could occur during the rainy season," she expressed, in the Jakarta Government's press release, Sunday (11/19 ).

Besides being a momentum for mass cleanup action throughout Jakarta, this activity for Jakarta is also hoped to revive the spirit of mutual cooperation which is part of Indonesian culture, as well as fostering a sense of love and ownership of every citizen towards their city.

It was targeted to transport mud from all rivers in Jakarta up to 672,206 cubic meters, which are divided into 4 activity scales, namely city scale, sub-district scale, community scale, and sustainable scale. From each of these scales, cleanup action was carried out in one segment of a large river or canal and working together to clean the riverbanks with the help of heavy equipment to dredge the riverbed.

As for implementation points on a city scale, dredging is conducted for a total of 25,087 kilometers. The details are North Jakarta 7.2 kilometers, West Jakarta 6.3 kilometers, Central Jakarta 3.56 kilometers, East Jakarta 3.21 kilometers, and South Jakarta 4.8 kilometers.

Meanwhile, on a sub-district scale, it would be executed at river points or connecting channels according to each sub-district. It was aimed at ensuring that the area in the sub-district is clean from garbage and reducing silting in river and drainage areas.

"On a community scale, residents will be encouraged to drain drainage in their respective homes, then the results of the drainage will be transported by PPSU at the urban village level. Hence, good coordination and cooperation is needed from RT and RW, thus this scale can run well," he explained.

In contrast to the city, sub-district or community scale where activities are held in one day, on a sustainable scale activities are carried out by continuing the river dredging target. The cross-SKPD mutual cooperation dredging will continue on November 20, 2023, along the Ciliwung river.

"Even though the SDA Agency routinely dredges rivers, on a sustainable scale, this is done in mutual cooperation across SKPDs to speed up the mud dredging target. All these efforts are expected to improve river flow during the rainy season and prevent puddles from appearing in Jakarta," he stated.

Reporter: TP Moan