South Jakarta dredges Pesanggrahan River to enliven Independence Day

The South Jakarta City Administration is dredging the Pesanggrahan River and surrounding micro-channels through the ‘Merah Putihkan Jakarta’ programme to enliven the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

‘I have instructed the sub-district heads and urban village chiefs to continue monitoring. We will also conduct unannounced inspections to ensure the river and micro-channel cleaning process runs consistently during the dry season,’ said South Jakarta Mayor Syafrin Liputo during a community clean-up at the Pesanggrahan River, Jakarta, Saturday.

Syafrin said the dredging and cleaning of the channels is not merely ceremonial. Since last week, the South Jakarta City Administration has kicked off a gotong royong movement and instructed sub-district heads and urban village chiefs to regularly monitor conditions on the ground.

This massive effort is being undertaken to accelerate preparations for the rainy season while addressing flooding in areas prone to inundation.

During the community clean-up involving around 680 combined personnel from the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the National Police and other elements, Syafrin noted that all participants appeared to be wearing red-and-white themed clothing.

According to him, besides being part of flood control, the activity was also initiated to enliven the 81st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

‘This activity is also synergised with tree planting and the release of fish fingerlings, which is expected to benefit the community,’ he said.

‘The RW 04 area of the IKPN Complex has long been known to experience frequent inundation due to narrowing of the water flow and severe siltation of mud sediment,’ he said.

Santo said the dredging, which has been underway since April, is targeted for full completion in March 2027 with a total dredging target of 60,000 cubic metres.

‘To date, the dredging volume progress has reached 35.7 percent. Dredging is carried out to a depth of six metres from the ground surface to remove mud sediment and settled household waste,’ he explained.

To support the dredging, five units of heavy equipment and 10 hauling trucks have been deployed. Of the five heavy equipment units, four are operating to dredge the river flow and one is on standby at a temporary holding site in the Tanah Kusir area or the nearest cemetery area.

‘In addition to technical handling on site, we are also strengthening cross-border coordination. One example is collaboration with the West Jakarta City Administration to handle vulnerable points, to ensure smooth water flow from upstream to downstream without obstruction,’ said Santo.