Jakarta rivers not properly cleaned
Yesterday, Jakarta mayors complained about the poor job private contractors were doing in cleaning the city's rivers.
North Jakarta mayor Suprawito complained that contractors only submerge floating garbage instead of removing it from the rivers. Meanwhile, East Jakarta mayor Sudarsono said that contractors operating within his mayoralty simply move the garbage from the rivers to the riverbanks.
Both reported on the poor performance of the contractors to Governor Surjadi Soedirdja during the weekly meeting of high- ranking city officials yesterday.
In response to the complaints, Governor Surjadi said he would evaluate the performance of those contractors and possibly end their contracts if their jobs are found to be unsatisfactory.
According to data at the city's sanitation office, there are 16 contractors which are currently contracted to clean the city's rivers.
During the meeting, the mayors also reported the mayoralties' revenues from property taxes and five other municipal taxes.
According to the reports, in the 1993/94 period, South Jakarta collected Rp 40.5 billion in property taxes. This was up by 8.59 percent from the set target.
Figures for North Jakarta are Rp 18.175 billion, up by 19 percent, Central Jakarta Rp 34.4 billion, up by 2.6 percent, and East Jakarta Rp 27.4, up by 7.35 percent.
Figures on the comparison of targeted and actual revenues of property taxes collected in West Jakarta mayoralty, however, were not made available. The report only stated that the revenues collected by West Jakarta mayoralty for the 1993/94 period amounted to Rp 30.45 billion. (06)
Mob kills bus crew
An angry mob fatally attacked a mini bus driver at the Pulo Gadung Bus Terminal in East Jakarta on Tuesday evening, mistaking him for a pickpocket.
The attackers thought that Rohim, who had just entered his bus, was the pickpocket they were running after.
The mob knocked him down although the victim had repeatedly denied the allegation. After realizing that they had hit the wrong person, the mob retreated and disappeared, Pos Kota reported.
Five minutes later, another mob killed a bus conductor, again mistaking him for a pickpocket. They believed that Robinson Sinaga was the man they were chasing as he happened to be running across the road. He was beaten to death only a few hundreds meters from the site where the mob attacked Rohim.
The East Jakarta police precinct is investigating the incidents but have made no arrests so far. (09)