City's five mayoralties get Adipura awards

JAKARTA (JP): All five Jakarta mayoralties won Adipura awards for cleanliness yesterday.

President Soeharto handed over the trophies in a ceremony at Merdeka Palace marking World Environment Day.

The trophies were given to the five mayors who later carried them in horse-drawn carts to City Hall, where Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and other city officials welcomed them.

The horse pulling the traditional cart carrying South Jakarta's award fell down at City Hall, minutes before the governor was to signal for all the carts to leave for their parades to their respective mayoralty offices.

Three types of cleanliness awards are given annually on World Environment Day: the Adipura Kencana for cities that have won the award five consecutive times or five times in six years; the regular Adipura for cleanliness and a healthy environment, and certificates.

Last year, for the first time in the city's history, all five mayoralties received the award. It was also the first time Central Jakarta received the Adipura Kencana award and the first time North Jakarta ever received the award.

This year was the second time Central Jakarta mayoralty won the Adipura Kencana award.

"This year's award was more difficult to get because the evaluation was conducted during the election period," Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi said.

Surjadi said the presentation of Adipura awards proved the city's cleanliness was well maintained.

"I have to thank officials and especially Jakartans for the awards. Without people's support in the cleanliness program, we would never make it," he said.

Cleanliness

Despite the awards, the city still faces an uphill battle of maintaining cleanliness. "There's still many people who throw garbage anywhere," Surjadi said.

North Jakarta received the award for the second time, while West, East and South Jakarta received it for the third time.

In addition to Adipura awards, Jakarta also ranked second in environment soundness in the provincial level and received the Environmental Quality Balance (Neraca Kualitas Lingkungan Hidup) award.

The city also ranked first in the clean river program at the provincial level and received the Clean River Program Award.

The city's environmental bureau head, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, said there were 89 participants in the city's clean river program. Among them were hospitals, industries and hotels, he said.

When asked about air quality improvement, Surjadi said that the municipality had tried to improve city's air, such as by conducting car emission tests.

"Currently, we are also in the process of socializing the use of natural gas to motorists," he said.

In Bogor, the public crowded roadsides to watch the parading of the awards for their city and regency, including Depok administrative town.

Dozens of cars and motorcycles joined a parade starting at noon from the Baranangsiang toll gate and ended at Bogor's City Hall at 1:30 p.m. The Army training center's marching band was part of the procession.

Mayor Eddy Gunardi appealed to residents to help keep the award.

"At least residents should keep their gardens clean," he said.

It is the seventh time Bogor township has won the award since 1986. It lost the prize in 1990 and regained it in 1995.

The Students Association of Environment of Pakuan University distributed stickers for public minivans to mark Environment Day.

The stickers appeal to people to dispose of garbage properly.

"It is wise to encourage people to throw waste where it belongs," the stickers say. (ste/24/anr)