1,000 graves to be moved

JAKARTA (JP): Over 1,000 graves in Menteng Pulo public cemetery in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, will be relocated to the Kampung Kandang cemetery in the same mayoralty next month, as the city's cemetery agency plans to develop the area into a public park.

Hariono Seno, head of the agency, said that the project to turn the 4,500 square-meter Menteng Pulo cemetery into a park would cost nearly Rp 280 million, according to the city's official website BeritaKota.com.

Descendants of the dead buried there are required to register the graves between Sept. 8 and Sept. 21, while the process of moving them will begin on Oct.11.

Out of 1,003 graves in the Menteng Pulo cemetery, only 147 still have a land use permit.

A park will be developed in the area due to its location in a strategic area at the heart of the city.

It will be one of 30 parks to be built by the city administration.

Head of the city landscape agency, Dadang Ruskandar, said that statues of national heroes will be erected in the parks, which are expected to be the lungs of the city.