Jakarta keeps city's temperature cool for 43rd Asean Summit

JAKARTA - The Provincial Government of Jakarta watered plants and protocol streets in order to keep the temperature in the capital city cool ahead of the 43rd Asean Summit that will take place on Sept 5-7, 2023, said Antara news agency.

The 43rd Asean Summit will be the second summit to be held under Indonesia's Asean chairmanship this year, succeeding the earlier summit that took place in May 2023 in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara.

"We hope that this watering activity will help us maintain the fertility of the plants, so they can continue to produce oxygen for the public," Herlina Merinda, an official at Jakarta's Office of Parks and Urban Forests, stated in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Merinda remarked that the watering activity involved several water-carrying vehicles that started spraying water from around the Merdeka Palace across West Medan Merdeka Street in Central Jakarta and Bundaran Senayan in South Jakarta.

The provincial government and the Greater Jakarta Regional Police collaborated to deploy the required vehicles comprising four water cannon-equipped cars, four fire fighter cars, and 10 water tank cars, she revealed.

The water used in the temperature-cooling process was basically wastewater that has been processed to ensure that it did not smell, she explained.

Merinda elaborated that they used water supply from a wastewater treatment plant (IPAL).

"Therefore, we did not take the groundwater supply to execute today's activity," she stated.

She further elaborated that the activity was led by Head of the Jakarta Public Order Security Agency (Satpol PP) Arifin and executed by a joint team comprising dozens of personnel from Satpol PP, the Police, Fire and Rescue Agency, and Jakarta's Transportation as well as Parks and Urban Forests offices.

Furthermore, she affirmed that the watering activity also served as the provincial government's effort to keep trees and plants in Jakarta in prime condition to anticipate the El Nino heat phenomenon that can cause prolonged dry season.

The government is committed to consistently making efforts to make Jakarta a clean, beautiful, comfortable, and healthy city, she stated. - BERNAMA-ANTARA