Prabowo plans cleanest city competition with Rp20 billion prize
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto plans to hold a cleanest city competition with a prize of Rp20 billion for the five best cities, as an effort to encourage regional governments to improve environmental cleanliness and waste management.
In his speech at the mass handover of 62,000 units of subsidised housing mortgages (KPR) in Batang, Central Java, on Thursday, President Prabowo said the government would provide incentives in the form of budget allocations rather than merely symbolic awards, so that regional governments would have greater motivation to keep their areas clean.
“We will hold a competition for the cleanest cities — the cleanest cities numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Do we need a dirtiest city category? What matters is the cleanest city, and we will give an incentive. For the cleanest city, we could give Rp20 billion; five cleanest cities get Rp20 billion. The five cities below them get Rp10 billion, and so on,” said President Prabowo, as monitored via the Presidential Secretariat broadcast in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to President Prabowo, providing incentives is more beneficial than simply awarding trophies to high-achieving regions.
President Prabowo affirmed that all elements of government must have the determination to realise clean cities, rivers, and waterways.
The Head of State asked governors, regents, mayors, and the ranks of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and National Police (Polri) to actively go into the field and monitor environmental conditions every day.
In addition, President Prabowo asked regional heads not to work only from behind their desks, but to routinely conduct rounds to ensure environmental cleanliness, and to reprimand residents and business owners who neglect cleanliness.
“If there is a house that is not looked after, reprimand the owner; if the front of their house is filthy, reprimand them. If a shop refuses to maintain cleanliness, reprimand it; if after repeated reprimands they still refuse, then call in the joint team — the Attorney General’s Office together with the police,” Prabowo asserted.
President Prabowo emphasised that the waste problem is not merely a matter of cleanliness, but concerns the dignity of the nation.
Prabowo also invited all levels of society, from neighbourhood unit (RT) and hamlet (RW) chiefs, cooperative administrators, mosque committees, civil servants (ASN), to directors of state-owned enterprises (BUMN), to work together to clean up the environment on a routine basis.
According to the President, the involvement of all elements of society will be key to creating a clean environment while strengthening the culture of discipline and care for cleanliness throughout Indonesia.