Jakarta Floods, Garbage In Ciliwung River Reaches 272 Square Meters

Jakarta flood illustration (Photo: Mery/VOI)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Environment Agency transports 272 square meters of garbage from the Ciliwung River. Garbage accumulates due to high-intensity rain and causes rivers to overflow.

A total of 72 square meters of garbage is transported at Manggarai Water Gate, Central Jakarta. Currently, the water level in Manggarai reaches 865 centimeters with alert 3 status.

Then, 200 square meters of garbage was transported from the Kampung Melayu bridge, East Jakarta. Garbage transportation at each location is carried out by 20 officers, 15 units of garbage transporting fleet, and 2 units of heavy equipment.

"The Department of Environment has a standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling waste during floods. We ensure that the waste management system runs effectively," said Environmental Service Public Relations Officer, Yogi Ikhwan, in his statement, Saturday, February 20.

Yogi said, as many as 5,000 personnel from the Activity Management Unit (UPK) of Water Agency and the DKI Jakarta Environmental Agency were alerted to locations prone to piles of garbage during the floods.

"Apart from this task force, personnel and organic fleets continue to carry out routine services. Theseorganic personnel and fleets are also ready to be mobilized to carry out post-flood handling," said Yogi.

The facilities alerted by this task force consisted of 44 garbage pickup trucks, 50 garbage trucks, 5 spider-type excavators, 6 long-arm excavators, 20 ordinary excavators, and one Liebher excavator accompanied by 23 mobilization officers and 12 mechanics.

"If needed, routine service fleets from other areas can also be mobilized to the affected areas. Our target is to handle it quickly according to the governor's direction," he said.