Surjadi approves plan to improve public cemeteries
Surjadi approves plan to improve public cemeteries
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has given the go- ahead to a plan to standardize cemeteries in the city, which will make them function as scenic areas, greeneries as well as areas that will retain groundwater levels.
Head of City Cemetery Office Sjafril Zainuddin announced yesterday that the governor fully supports the plan and has urged all city institutions to take active roles in implementing the plan.
"Governor Surjadi has urged all related institutions to participate in the project and he specifically asked the cemetery office to increase public presentation on this plan," Sjafril said.
He said the governor agreed to allocate a budget for the 1995/1996 fiscal year to finance the first project on 16.8 hectares of the Karet Bivak cemetery in Central Jakarta.
He said the total cost for refurbishing Karet Bivak is estimated at Rp 2.6 billion (US$1.18 million).
"We chose Karet Bivak cemetery because of its strategic location. It will have a positive impact on the project in the future," he said, explaining that people who see the cemetery can support the program with other cemeteries in the city.
Currently, there are about 40,000 graves in Karet Bivak cemetery. In the first stage, 3,209 of the graves will be relocated to other sites, with a small number of them being relocated to Pondok Rangon and Pondok Kelapa cemeteries.
"We have to relocate those graves and the governor has ordered my office not to charge the heirs any fee for the relocations," Sjafril said, adding that the plan includes the construction of a center in front of the cemetery for flower traders.
He explained the project could wipe out prevailing superstitions that cemeteries are haunted and fear inspiring. "When completed, all city cemeteries will not only function as burial sites but also as city green areas and catchments so they can be useful for those still alive."
He said the project is useful because it can decrease the level of pollution in Jakarta.
The city administration issued City Regulation No. 2 in 1992 on cemetery planning which sets the standard design of graves in Jakarta. The regulation forbids the use of bricks or concrete in the construction of graves and allows only soil, grass and a tombstone to be used.
Sjafril said the standardization of graves enables the city to monitor the number of graves per hectare in a cemetery. The number should be exactly 1,800 graves per hectare.
There are 614 cemeteries in Jakarta but only 101, totaling 556 hectares, comply with the city's planning. (yns)