Governor Koster Forms Kuta Beach Waste Task Force, on Alert When "Garbage from Abroad" Comes

JAKARTA - Governor Wayan Koster is preparing a quick step to respond to the President's spotlight on garbage at Kuta Beach. He ensured that the Bali Provincial Government would form a special task force so that cleaning could be done immediately when the garbage came.

According to Koster, the garbage on Kuta Beach is seasonal and is "mail garbage".

"It comes during the rainy season, late December, January, early February. The current is big, coming quickly from outside the area," he said on the sidelines of the Central and Regional Government Meeting in Sentul, Monday, February 2.

He said that so far the process of mobilizing cleaning has taken time.

"It took about two to three hours for the mobilization to be clean," he said.

Following up on the President's instructions, Koster stated that he would gather related parties to form a coastal guard task force.

"Once the garbage comes, it is immediately cleaned, there is no need to wait two to three hours," he said.

Cross-sectoral involvement is said to be part of the scheme.

"School children are involved and prepared with transport and cleaning tools," said Koster.

He admitted that the availability of heavy equipment was a constraint because it was not always in the location.

"If the heavy equipment is not standby, it takes a few hours to move to a different location," he said.

Koster said he had coordinated with the Regent of Badung and the Mayor of Denpasar to have heavy equipment on alert in the beach area.