Garbage piling up in rivers

Garbage piling up in rivers

Head of the City public works office Soeharto says that the
total garbage thrown into Jakarta's waterways reaches over 1,400
cubic meters per day.

He said over the weekend that the large quantity of garbage
contributes to floods during the rainy season.

The massive volume hinders the office's effort to clean up the
rivers to help facilitate water flow, he said.

"Out of the total garbage, we can only remove 300 cubic meters
from the rivers and 700 cubic meters go straight to sea, while
the remaining 400 cubic meters is still in the rivers," he said.

Soeharto admitted that the office badly needs additional
equipment and personnel to help clean all garbage from the
rivers.

"We urge Jakartans not to overburden this office which is what
recklessly throwing away garbage does," he said. (yns)