TEMPO.CO, Bandung - A group of women under the United Females of Bandung (PBB) plans to clean up Asia-Afrika Street in the city on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 and in the early hours of Friday, April 24, 2015 as the West Java’s capital gears up for the anniversary event of the 60th Asia-Africa Conference (AAC).
PBB chair Helvi Baskoro said the cleanup was part of her organization’s contribution to helping the city prepare for the event. “We will roll out a cleaning drive for the Asia-Africa Conference,” she told Tempo on Tuesday, March 24, 2015.
“We can see now that the city administration is extensively repairing sidewalks along Asia-Afrika Street, so why don’t we participate by cleaning the remains of the renovation work,” she said.
Helvi said the PBB would deploy around 1,000 people to clean the street. “The system is by asking our friends to join this activity. We are doing this because we are residents of Bandung. The government and the people share the obligation to keep our environment clean,” she said.
The Bandung administration is now renovating and repairing the infrastructure at the site where the event was slated to take place—including repairing sideways along Asia-Afrika Street and the Merdeka building, and repainting the city’s Grand Mosque, with a total budget in the neighborhood of Rp2.3 billion. According to schedules, a number of heads of state will conduct Friday prayers in the Grand Mosque.
The event is scheduled for April 24, 2015, in which the heads of state will engage in a series of agendas, among them a historical walk, state addresses, Friday prayers, and a luncheon at the residence of West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan.
Eighty of the total 109 invited countries have confirmed their attendance for the event.
AMINUDIN
