Gibran Ensures Infrastructure Development Doesn't Eliminate Green Open Space

Mayor of Surakarta Gibran Rakabuming Raka. ANTARA/Aris Wasita

SOLO - The Surakarta City Government, Central Java, ensures that infrastructure development does not eliminate green open space (RTH) at several points.

"There are several strategic points that really need to be pursued for infrastructure development. As a consequence, we have transferred some green open spaces to other locations, not eliminated," said Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka in Solo as reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 8.

Gibran said that green open spaces will still be held at a number of points.

In fact, he said, the Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya is ready to provide support for the development of green open space in the city of Solo.

Regarding a number of green open spaces that have been reduced due to infrastructure development, including the Manahan area because it is used for structuring street vendors (PKL) and Simpang Joglo due to the impact of the flyover project.

"Indeed, the consequence is that there is green space that must be removed. Not all of it is cut down, some of it is moved," he said.

The Mayor of Solo said this effort was also used as an opportunity for the Surakarta City Government to sort out hard and soft root crops.

"We had the opportunity to choose plants whose roots are not hard. Apart from not being aesthetically pleasing, hard roots also damage asphalt, such as the Angsana tree," said Gibran.

The development of infrastructure and public facilities in recent years has had an impact on the shrinking of the area of green open space in Solo.

The decrease in the area of green open space can be seen in the green open space data in the city of Solo, namely a decrease in the area. For 2019 and 2020, public green open space will reach 372.94 hectares, while the area of green open space in 2021 will be 355.23 hectares. Referring to the data, there is a narrowing of 17.17 hectares of public green open space.