Tangerang to clear riverbanks

TANGERANG: Tangerang municipality authorities will next week demolish hundreds of houses and buildings illegally built along the banks of the river Cisadane, as part of efforts to prevent flooding.

"The administration is now beginning to implement Bylaw No. 7/2000 on water catchment areas that prohibits people from establishing any buildings along the riverbanks or lakeshores," head of public order agency Irman Puja Hendra said on Thursday.

The agency estimated that there were about 500 illegal dwellings and 300 offices and business buildings on the banks of the Cisadane.

Last month, the agency had destroyed about 100 illegal buildings and evicted over 250 people from the Mookervart river that flows through Jl. Daan Mogot, Tangerang, and into West Jakarta. -- JP