Launches Ponton Boat In Citarum River, Luhut: Cleaning Garbage No Longer Manpower

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (Photo: dock. Antara)

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan launched a pontoon boat specifically designed to pull garbage along the Citarum River.

Luhut revealed that the pontoon boat was a leading innovation from the Indonesian Army as a sustainability program for the Citarum Harum.

"So this is a step ahead presented by the Army by collecting garbage and then using conveyors who clean up trash no longer use human force," Luhut said, quoting Antara.

Luhut revealed that the pontoon boat was produced by the Ministry of Equipment Center (Bengpuspal) of the Indonesian Army Equipment Center (Puspal).

He explained that this boat can work quickly to pull garbage from the river and then lift it into a truck via a conveyor until it is sorted with a garbage sorting machine until the combustion process.

"The innovation in waste management that I have been thinking about for a long time. It can't be realized, what is presented by the army. So it doesn't use a lot of people's energy, this is an extraordinary step," said Luhut.

He said the launch was part of the Citarum Harum program which aims to overcome pollution and improve the quality of water in one of the longest rivers in Indonesia.

"To collect the garbage (pontons) and the conveyor, I am a bit surprised because we have received assistance from the Netherlands and from France, yes, there is no big difference with this," he said.

Furthermore, according to him, for the price of one unit of pontoon boat with a conveyor made by Bengpuspal Puspal TNI AD, the price is much more affordable than the one given by the Dutch and France, touching 1 million US dollars.

"We asked at that time (Ponton equipment and conveyor) 1 million US dollars, this was said to be how much? Only Rp. 350 million and made by Army soldiers. That's why I asked to be perfected again, there is less here and there so just put it in the e-catalog," he said.