To Prevent Floods and Landslides, Yogyakarta City Government Accelerates Restoration of Winongo River

Yogyakarta City Government has begun accelerating efforts to restore the natural beauty of the Winongo River as the city’s lungs. This initiative follows the increasingly concerning condition of the river on the western side of Yogyakarta City, which poses a potential danger to residents. Yogyakarta Mayor Hasto Wardoyo emphasised that he does not want to allow the ongoing damage to the river infrastructure to continue. He targets restoring the Winongo River to its pristine state while ensuring it functions optimally as a water flow controller. “Today, together with the Head of the Serayu Opak River Basin Office, as well as the Dandim’s team and all river care communities, and the entire community, we are starting to clean the Winongo River,” Hasto stated in his speech at the Kick Off event for the Normalisation of Yogyakarta City Rivers in 2026, on Friday (24/4/2026). Hasto noted that the river’s condition has received minimal attention, leading to an accumulation of inappropriate activities along the banks. According to him, the narrowing of the river flow is triggered by the proliferation of wild chicken coops and indiscriminate waste dumping along the banks. Hasto stated that this condition causes uncontrolled water flow that impacts the western embankment, triggering landslides. As a concrete step, heavy equipment is being deployed for normalisation, focusing on dredging sediment and rubbish, as well as regulating non-permanent buildings that violate spatial planning. “The Winongo River has not been touched by normalisation activities for a very long time, so we see that the eastern side is full of chicken coops, bird coops, and even yesterday there was a waste bank there. We have socialised this a week ago, and the residents have accepted it, alhamdulillah,” he said. This normalisation is expected to restore the river’s function while preventing floods and landslides. Hasto explained that sedimentation on the eastern side has caused the water flow to reverse and hit the western side. “We are supported by the Serayu Opak Main Basin to deploy heavy equipment so that we can carry out river normalisation, ensuring the river functions well, without flooding overflows, and no landslides. Because when the eastern side is full of sediment, the water hits the west, and the western side is threatened with landslides,” Hasto revealed.