DKI Add COVID-19 2 Hectare Tomb Land In TPU Rorotan

Illustrations (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is preparing a burial ground for bodies related to COVID-19, both those that have been confirmed positive and those that are suspected, at the Rorotan Public Cemetery (TPU), North Jakarta.

The work on the provision of a special COVID-19 grave land was carried out by the DKI Bina Marga Agency. Head of the DKI Jakarta Highways Agency, Hari Nugroho, said the land being prepared is 20 thousand square meters or 2 hectares.

"With an area of the grave area of two hectares, it is estimated that it can accommodate 6,000 graves," Hari told reporters, Tuesday, September 29.

Hari said that the provision of grave land at Rorotan Cemetery has been done since 17 September. It is hoped that the land will be ready for use in December.

Currently, Hari said, the Bina Marga Office is still finalizing the access road to the TPU covering an area of 210 square meters.

"Now it has only reached four percent. Again, the process of filling and making access roads to the burial ground," he explained.

He continued, the work on land clearing for the Rorotan TPU has deployed heavy equipment such as three excavator units, two dozer units, one milling machine unit, and 10 dump trucks.

The heavy equipment performs a cut and fill process, which makes the soil surface flat, thereby facilitating the excavation process for burial.

In addition to TPU Rorotan, the DKI Provincial Government has also expanded the special burial area for COVID-19 at Pondok Ranggon TPU, East Jakarta. This expansion was carried out because previously the capacity of the tomb had run low to accommodate new bodies.

Hari said, the expansion of the grave land had been underway for the past two months. The calculation of the area of the tomb to be ripened is carried out in two stages.

"The calculation phase for the grave area for COVID-19 is in the first stage covering an area of 7,141 square meters and the second stage is 6,150 square meters. So, the total land area is 13,291 square meters," Hari said.

For expansion work, the Bina Marga Agency has lowered 4 units of heavy equipment, including 1 dozer unit, 1 jetting unit, and 2 backhoe units. "The land expansion is carried out by 4 operators and 4 other service providers (PJLP) as assistants," he said.