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)