Jakarta Not Yet Global City Ready, DPRD Member Highlights Neglected Sanitation

Jakarta City Councilor Jupiter has urged the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to avoid focusing solely on large-scale projects. He pointed out that many basic service issues, including sanitation, neighborhood road safety, and access to clean water, remain unresolved in densely populated settlements. Jupiter made these remarks after absorbing residents' aspirations during a recess in RW 03 and RW 07, Keagungan Village, Taman Sari District, West Jakarta. He assessed that Jakarta's development would lose its meaning if the community's most basic needs were still neglected. "Development must be felt by the residential area," Jupiter stated. One issue raised by residents in RW 07 was the need for speed bumps and convex mirrors at several points on neighborhood roads to mitigate accident risks due to high vehicle traffic. In response, Jupiter asked the DKI Jakarta Transportation Office to promptly install road safety facilities. Beyond safety, Jupiter highlighted poor sanitation conditions in RW 03, where approximately 120 houses reportedly lack septic tanks, leading to direct dumping of household waste into rivers. He argued that this situation is inconsistent with Jakarta's aspiration to be a global city if basic sanitation needs are unmet. Consequently, Jupiter requested the DKI Jakarta Water Resources Office and the DKI Jakarta Housing Office to allocate budgets for constructing communal sanitation facilities in densely populated areas. He emphasized that the government must fulfill basic services and cannot solely rely on corporate assistance through social responsibility programs. Jupiter revealed that similar sanitation problems are present in Palmerah, South Sukabumi, and Serengseng. He expressed hope that the equalization of basic services would be a priority in Jakarta's development, ensuring that the benefits of development are truly felt by the community at the neighborhood level.