Unloading The Wasteful Budget Gabions

Disassembled Gabion Installation (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The installation of gabions or gabions that have decorated the HI Roundabout in the last few months has finally been dismantled by the DKI Provincial Government since Monday, December 23 evening. The reason for the dismantling of Gabion was because it was the stage location for the 2020 New Year's Eve celebrations.

"While it is being dismantled in preparation for organizing a new year's event for Jakarta residents at the HI roundabout. After that it will be installed again," said Head of the DKI Forestry Service, Suzi Marsitawati, when confirmed, Thursday, December 26.

Currently, the gabion stone is invisible in the green lane area around the HI Roundabout. The greenery and flowers that were previously arranged around Gabion have also been removed. Only the remaining gabion decorative rock remains that lie on the land. Instead, a number of stage frames and a tent for the New Year's Eve 2020 celebration have lined up.

Responding to this, the head of the PDIP faction at the DPRD DKI, Gembong Warsono, assessed that the demolition of the stone installation costing Rp150 million was a waste. This is because the financing for the Gabion installation comes from the DKI Regional Budget.

"Now it is being dismantled, what else can we do? The DKI Provincial Government looks like it's playing games. This is people's money, the management must also be careful," said Gembong when contacted.

A development plan financed by the regional budget, said Gembong, must be carried out in the long term. Moreover, if you only make a city decoration, the manufacture cannot be done only in a short period of time.

"The concept of building Jakarta is not a matter of months, it was built several months ago and then dismantled and then reversed again," he said.

Gabion Installation (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

For information, the Gabion installation has been installed since August 2019, to replace the bamboo installation called Getih-Getah. This installation consists of rock and plant elements.

There are three gabion pillars that are stacked with different heights. Each of them is 2 meters high, 1.8 meters and 1.5 meters high. These three stone pillars represent the elements of earth, water and air.

The three stones were covered by an iron fence. The top is covered with red and white flowers, as a nuance of Indonesian independence. At the bottom of the three pillars are included several larger stones that are laid on the ground.

Around the gabion installation, there are various types of plants such as bougenville, sansivieira (tongue-in-law), tapak dara, cabbage palm, lollipops and other types.