Sutiyoso berates officials for neglecting Monas park
Sutiyoso berates officials for neglecting Monas park
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso scolded city park agency
officials on Wednesday for their failure to take care of the
National Monument park area in Central Jakarta.
"I am very upset to see the flowers we planted a few months
ago now dying.
"City park agency officials did not maintain the area and just
let people trample over the grass. What have they been doing
then?" he said.
Flowers surrounding the monument have dried up among the
leaves littering the area, while other plants, like palm trees,
were also drying up from a lack of care.
The governor also complained about the quality of the
flowerpots and the abundance of garbage in the area.
"I have told related city institutions to maintain the beauty
and cleanliness of the area because we've spent quite a huge
amount of money there," he said.
He told all parties related to a planned Rp 1.9 trillion
beautification project to temporarily forget the project due to
the city's limited budget.
"The project is too expensive. We should now concentrate on
smaller things which we can do," he said.
City administration completed the first phase of a Rp 3
billion (US$375,000) National Monument park facelift program in
January. The first phase of the project spent Rp 1.5 billion for
improving public facilities in the area, including installing
more benches, toilets, rubbish bins, lights and signs. The first
phase also arranged beautification of the area, such as providing
flowers and flowerpots, which reportedly cost about Rp 500
million.
Interviewed separately, the head of the city park agency,
Sjafril Zainudin, said the agency had unlimited funds to maintain
the park.
"There was no special fund allocated for maintaining the
monument's park as the budget was for all the parks in the city's
five mayoralties," he said.
He said the city last year allocated between Rp 3 billion and
Rp 4 billion for park maintenance.
Sjafril said the agency was planning to beautify the city's
main roads of Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman in Central
Jakarta, and Jl. Sisingamangaraja in South Jakarta, with flowers
and other decorative plants.
The beautification project, with a total cost projected at
about Rp 2.9 billion, is mainly related to the General Session of
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), slated for November.
"The project will be held in stages. We are now working on the
project along Jl. M.H. Thamrin, which is expected to be completed
this year," he said.
Sjafril said the project along Jl. Sudirman and Jl.
Sisingamangaraja would be financed by the city's 2000/2001
budget. (ind)