Jakarta Seeks Private Fund Sources For Sunter Reservoir

Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria (Photo: Public Relations of DKI Jakarta Provincial Government)

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Ahmad Riza Patria, admitted that his party is looking for funding sources from the private sector to continue the arrangement of the Sunter Reservoir area, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

"At the latest, the arrangement will start next year. However, this year we are trying to find other sources of financing, one of which is through CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds," Riza told reporters, Monday, July 20.

Riza said, the continuation of the arrangement of Lake Sunter is being accelerated with an early deadline of 2021. In fact, the continuation project for structuring the Sunter Reservoir was carried out in the middle of this year.

Of the total area of 2,400 square meters, the Sunter Reservoir has only been structured for an area of 1,400 square meters with an allocation of funds of Rp. 40 billion which is borne from the regional income and expenditure budget (APBD).

Meanwhile, for the arrangement of another 1,000 square meters of reservoir with a value of Rp 30 billion, the plan is to do this in 2020. However, due to recofusing the budget for handling the COVID-19 outbreak, the reservoir arrangement was postponed.

In fact, according to him, the reservoir arrangement must be carried out. Apart from preventing floods, it is also for sporting and socio-economic and cultural activities for the people of Jakarta.

However, nowadays there are also many street vendors who are still selling on the sidewalk. The existence of street vendors that pile up there tends to give the impression of being slum in the Sunter Reservoir.

Moreover, there is a stigma that has so far been accepted by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government, namely that at this time the Sunter Reservoir is often used as a place for a number of youths to make out at night.

"As with the Regional Medium Term Development Plan program and the direction of the Governor, that there will be used as pedestrians, recreation areas, MSMEs arrangement and no longer an obscene place," said Riza.

Furthermore, in addition to collecting water during heavy rains and minimizing the impact of flooding, the area around the reservoir will be constructed for public facilities such as running tracks, locations for traders to build, fishing ponds and parks. Then, the jet ski rides that have been in the Sunter Reservoir will also be maintained.

"So far, the effectiveness of Sunter Reservoir has been running well, there is already a stands so it will be made effective and I have checked the conditions directly on the ground on last Sunday," he said.

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