Bekasi Expert Team Secures Bridge Head Allegedly Hundreds Of Years Old Cultural Heritage

The head of the hundreds of years old bridge on the side of the Bekasi River, Margamulya Village, North Bekasi District, Bekasi City. (ANTARA/Pradita Kurniawan Syah).

The Bekasi City Cultural Heritage Expert Team (TACB), West Java is trying to secure an object suspected of being a hundreds of years old cultural heritage in the form of a bridge head on the west and east sides of the Bekasi River Bridge as a form of preserving historical heritage. The head of the Bekasi City TACB Ali Anwar admitted that he had coordinated with the Bekasi City Government (Pemkot) to request that the Bekasi City Tourism and Culture Office immediately secure the location by blocking the area of the object suspected of being a cultural heritage. "While we are conducting a study and suspect the bridge head is the first former Manggarai-Bekasi-Cikarang railroad to be built in the late 1890s," he said in Bekasi, quoted from Antara, Monday, June 26. He said efforts to preserve this cultural site were a follow-up to the results of his party's hearing with PT Kereta Api Indonesia and the Jakarta Class 1 Railway Engineering Center on Friday (9/6/2023). At that time, his party asked about the ownership status of the bridge head's land before deciding to secure the cultural assets in question. "So after getting an answer to the land ownership, the results of the study of the bridge head will be strengthened, so the next step is to secure the location by cutting it down," said Ali Anwar. His party then carried out further coordination with the Bekasi City Disparbud, PT KAI, Transportation Service, Disperkimtan, Satpol PP, North Bekasi District, Margamulya Village, and CV Mantaf Mandiri. "KAI through the Architecture and Preservation Unit has reported and discussed it with the leadership. In conclusion, the status of the land belongs to PT KAI. I am more sure because during the construction meeting of the Bekasi River Monument in 2003-2004, PT KAl stated that the area belonged to PT KAI," said Ali Anwar. He ensured that the local government (Pemda) through a third party, namely CV Mantaf Mandiri, would secure the location by using a refresher starting from the Bekasi River Monument to the head of the Bekasi River bridge. "Then tidy up the floor and paint the bridge head site. In order for the process to run smoothly, third parties will cooperate with us, Satpol PP, and the Transportation Service," he said. TACB juga meminta kepada Disparbud agar pihak ketiga cukup melakukan pemagaran dan perempuan di luar struktur bangunan kepala jembatan pada tahap pertama pekerjaan.

"Regarding the painting of the bridge head structure, a joint discussion was carried out with all members of the TACB. From there there there will be an agreement whether it needs to be painted or not. All work processes must involve TACB so that there is no error, considering that this is an object suspected of being a cultural heritage that is more than 100 years old," said Ali Anwar.