Shaving To Beautify Monas

JAKARTA - The National Monument (Monas) area is being revitalized. The DKI Provincial Government is targeting revitalization for three years from the start of work or it will be completed in 2021.

Head of the Monas Management Unit, Muhamad Isa Sanuri, said that revitalization was part of the Master Plan for the Arrangement of the Medan Merdeka Area Site Plan, the result of a design competition whose winners were determined in early 2019.

"The main plan for the revitalization is to build a Plaza Field as a forum for citizen expression on each side of Monas, both in the southern, eastern and western regions, as well as the construction of a pond that reflects the image of the Monas Monument," Isa said in his statement, Monday, January 20.

Currently, the revitalization process has begun in the Plaza Selatan area of 34,841 m2. A total of 190 trees were felled. Later, the land will be earmarked as a green belt.

"Of the 190 trees in the southern area, we will move to the western, eastern area, as well as the vehicle parking area which has been in the Medan Merdeka area, or known as the former IRTI parking area," said Isa.

In addition, Plaza Selatan Monas will be designated as an open space that accommodates government activities, both central and regional.

So far, these activities use the Great Room, which is the road around the National Monument. In fact, the Great Room was designed since the beginning of the construction of the National Monument as a space for contemplation.

"By moving all governmental activities to Plaza Selatan, it is hoped that the function of the Great Room will be restored as a space for contemplation," he said.

Separately, the Head of the DKI Jakarta Cipta Karya, Spatial Planning and Land Office Heru Herwanto explained that the revitalization plan for the Medan Merdeka area and the National Monument had been carefully prepared, from the Design of the Medan Merdeka Area Site Plan Arrangement, the interior design of the National Monument, to the physical area.

"This revitalization process will begin in 2019, along with the revitalization of the Istiqlal Mosque and the area around the Banteng Field. The three areas will be connected to a wide and neat pedestrian path," Heru explained.