Prokasih appreciated

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's clean river program, Prokasih, has received the award for best clean river program in Indonesia for a seventh consecutive year.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday that the prize reflects the results of hard work and public participation.

Jakarta has 13 rivers, while Prokasih covers five: the Ciliwung, Cipinang, Mookervart, Grogol and Cakung rivers.

According to the head of city environment bureau, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, there are 436 companies along the rivers which have joined in the program.

The Grogol and Cakung rivers, with 98 industries, hospitals and hotels situated along them, were included in the program during the 1995/96 fiscal year.

Aboejoewono declared the program a success. "Currently, in the Ciliwung river, for example, the Chemical Oxygen Demand is 95.5 percent lower than the level during the 1988/1989 fiscal year. The level dropped from 21,166.7 kg per day to only 1,369 kg per day," he said.

He explained that the Biological Oxygen Demand in the river also decreased, from 10,541.3 kg per day in 1988/1989, to 498.8 kg per day in 1995/1996 -- or 95.2 percent -- he added. (yns)