Garbage Dam To Protect From Surges From The Sea? Only In Jakarta.

(JG Photo/Ulma Haryanto)

Bang Foke: The Sea Reclamation Will Have No Environmental Ramifications

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has thumbed his nose at a Supreme Court ruling and said the city will forge ahead with a major sea reclamation project. (JG Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno)”

Bang Foke is pushing ahead with the sea reclamation project in North Jakarta, despite environmental experts saying that it will be disastrous, and even despite blocks from the State Ministry of the Environment and the Supreme Court.

Water-No-Ways

In a somewhat signature act of far-flung vision with terrible planning, the outgoing governor, Sutiyoso, launched the city water taxis in June 2007, spending Rp 200 billion on the facilities with a pilot project serving a 1.7 km route with two 28-person boats. So where is it now?The first few trips failed when, among others, garbage got stuck in the boat’s rotors. This, and not to mention that apparently not all of Ciliwung River can be dredged to serve such a water transport service.So Rp 200 billion and ambition = nothing happening.

Roads Repaired With Recycled Material

This is definitely one of the best decisions made this year, whether or not it actually gets carried out. So instead of using totally new material for road reparations, the city administration is planning to recycle basic material like asphalt from previously used material.The amount recycled is not much, but it’s a start. Next step would be figuring out how to use the hundreds of tons of garbage Jakartans throw out each month and use it as cheap building material. I wonder if any of the distinguished universities have made any studies into this…

But Seriously, It’s Tough Washing All That Shit

Dozens of delman operators have been protesting the decree banning them from operating in the Monas area, where they have been basically kicked out for the last two years. An apparent promise to relocate them to Ancol or TMII apparently was an empty promise.So why, you ask, have the delmans been banned from the Monas area? According to the mayor, it’s tough washing the horse shit off the park’s stone block, and all the urine and feces made the park all smelly and messy.So instead of helping the delman operators manage their, um, exhaust better – which I’m pretty sure can be done – the government just cuts them out of their livelihood.

Going Green, Jakarta Style

So not only do we try to plant more trees in Jakarta, but we also put pictures of trees and flowers on billboards.

Jakarta Is The Cleanest City In Indonesia, Right?

Two boys sift through discarded waste floating on a river in Jakarta on Friday. (Photo: Adek Berry, Reuters) - The Jakarta Globe

So apparently, Jakarta has won 5 Adipura awards, which are awards issued for environmental awareness. All 5 Jakarta municipalities given the awards were the ones who managed to keep their areas clean, and supposedly being the greenest and cleanest in Indonesia.Perhaps they kept the streets clean by sweeping everything into the river…

Here’s A Great Way To Spend Your Spare Time

About a week ago, Tangerang residents protesting the disrepair of a long-ignored, damaged part of road, took one of the larger potholes, and turned it into a pond.And when the authorities were asked of their response to the citizen’s protest? “We sent three letters.”Well at least Tangerang gets a new lake/pond to replace their missing ones.

Smelly Declaration

To declare their alliance for the upcoming presidential elections, the Megawati-Prabowo election team has selected the Bantar Gebang dumpsite for the location, for some sort of PR effect – I think they want to be seen as ‘close to the people’.Yet I guess their definition of ‘leave the dumpsite as it has always been’ means setting up a huge stage and tent, placing down a walkway made of placing blocks, and so on, and is actually a few hundred meters from the actual dumpsite.The only thing they did not try to get rid of was the smell – hopefully the smell is enough for the campaign team to not just make this into a PR event, but something to act on.

Oh Yes! We Only Have To Wait 16 Years

Last month, the government unveiled their plan to make Jakarta flood-free by 2025.Yipeee. What do we do for the intervening 16 years? But to give the government some credit, the plan is seemingly comprehensive… then again, I have never seen any project continued consistently for 4 years, let alone 16. I’m not even sure if they have integrated this into other grand plans i.e. overhauling the public transport network, creation of cheaper housing complexes and so on.But hey kids, there’s always something we can do, right? Like making sure we dont litter the rivers in the first place.