Djarot to Transform Ciliwung River to be Ecotourism Site
29 December 2014 14:14 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat plans to transform Ciliwung river to tourist attraction site.
According to Djarot, Ciliwung has a potential to be turned into a tourist attraction as it can be more useful to introduce river ecosystem and rare plants from Betawi, such as Menteng tree. “I want young people to know more about rare plants from Betawi, not just going to the mall or cafe.”
However, the river will be normalized first in order for it to function well as Djarot said the river had shrunken.
He urged all people to care about Ciliwung and not to hold unproductive demonstrations like the demonstration against fuel price hike. “The demonstration should be to clean Ciliwung.”
Golkar Party faction chairman Zainuddin supports Djarot’s plan and suggests the concept of Ciliwung ecotourism to be like east flood canal.
After normalization, 20 to 30 meters of its land will be acquired to build roads for jogging and cycling.
Ciliwung ecotourism concept also offers water transportation where people can enjoy paddling and canoeing.
He set the deadline for Ciliwung river normalization to finish in 2017.
ERWAN HERMAWAN