City committed to plan to restore green areas

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta administration says it is serious in its drive to restore the city's green areas, many of which have been lost to gas stations, government offices and electricity substations.

As a first step, the administration would remove 35 gas stations built in green areas, the head of the Jakarta Parks Agency, Syamsir Alam, said yesterday.

The operation would start soon and should be completed by the end of this year, Syamsir said, refusing to give details of which gas stations would be affected.

His agency has already removed three gas stations and converted the land back into parks.

Jakarta's parks have dwindled to 5 percent, or 3,250 hectares, of the city's 65,000 hectares.

The administration hopes to double the park area to 6,500 hectares by 2005.

Officials say that ideally, 30 percent of the city should be planted with trees.

Jakarta however could only afford to spare 15 percent of its total area for trees, Syamsir said, claiming that reverting housing areas back into parks would cost too much.

He said parks were the lungs of a city, providing clean air and reducing the likelihood of diseases caused by air pollution.

Speaking during a ceremony to mark the 27th anniversary of the City Parks Agency yesterday, Syamsir blamed businesspeople for their insistence on converting green areas into commercial sites for many of the problems.

But Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, who attended the ceremony, also underscored the role played by officials, who gave the green light for development projects in green areas in return for bribes.

Surjadi promised he would punish officials who were involved in approving development in designated green areas.

The ceremony was held in Ragunan, South Jakarta, one of the few areas in Jakarta where green belt areas remained untouched. Ragunan is also home to Jakarta Zoo.

Surjadi praised the Ragunan people for their participation in keeping the district green, saying they asked for more tree seedlings from the administration than residents of other areas.

Ragunan residents should maintain their efforts and should not be easily swayed by lucrative financial offers to turn their neighborhoods into commercial zones, he said.

As part of the city's regreening campaign, the administration started appealing to residents in 1989 to plant trees. In 1993, which President Soeharto declared the Year of Environment, Indonesia launched the nationwide "One Million Tree Movement".

By last year, Jakarta claimed to have planted 3.47 million trees, exceeding the three million target.

Another program to start next month is the Jl. Thamrin regreening project. This includes widening sidewalks and green areas in front of office buildings along Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta.

"Once this Thamrin program is completed, Jakarta can compete with sidewalks in Orchard Road in Singapore, or the Champs Elyses in Paris," Surjadi said. (07)