Maintenance of parks, greenery top priority<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city park office said they will make the
\nmaintenance of public parks and greeneries alongside major
\nthoroughfares a top priority during the current dry season.<\/p>\n
\"We have to give top priority to this sector due to the
\nshortage of water trucks,\" the office's Chief, Syamsir Alam, told
\nThe Jakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
According to Syamsir, the office's existing 62 water trucks
\nwere not enough to water the city's public parks and greeneries
\nwhich occupy 18,000 hectares of land.<\/p>\n
\"We need around 460 more water trucks to preserve the parks
\nand greeneries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Surya Dharma, one of Syamsir's assistants, added that the
\noffice requires about 72 million liters of water daily to keep
\nthe trees and plants alive, while the truck fleet could only
\ncarry 281,000 liters of water.<\/p>\n
Surya said that, due to the constraints of the city budget,
\nthe office can only purchase 10 water trucks each year.<\/p>\n
Syamsir said that, to cope with the situation, his office has
\ntried to find other ways of watering the greeneries. They include
\nusing the nearest rivers or wells, installing water sprinklers
\nand building artesian wells at some parks such as Monas and
\naround Banteng squares, around Pak Tani statue and Semanggi
\ninterchange.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully, this will reduce our dependence on water trucks,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The shortage of transportation is not the only problem faced
\nby the office in their efforts to preserve the public parks.<\/p>\n
\"The school holiday will also pose another problem,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In this dry season, which coincides with the school holiday
\nseason, some public parks have been used as playgrounds for
\nchildren. Suara Pembaruan daily reported on Wednesday that a
\npublic park at Jatinegara viaduct, in East Jakarta, has been used
\nas a soccer field.<\/p>\n
Syamsir said that the office has to face such problems every
\nschool holiday.<\/p>\n
\"We face these same bad habits every school holiday,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However, Syamsir said he would re-green all the damaged public
\nparks using new foliage. He added that he would institute strict
\ncontrols to prevent any more abuse.<\/p>\n
He also called on the public to protect and preserve the
\npublic parks.<\/p>\n
\"We hope that they will not use the public parks for any
\nirrelevant activities,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Syamsir said that the office has anticipated all possibilities
\nduring this dry season. He said his office has an adequate water
\nsupply and human resources.<\/p>\n
The dry season usually starts in February and lasts until
\nSeptember. (03)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/maintenance-of-parks-greenery-top-priority-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}