Bandung, W Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said that the movement for handling pollution and damages at the Citarum River bank would become a pilot project for other rivers, such as the Bengawan Solo and the Brantas.

"Citarum river bank (problem handling) will be the role model for other rivers, including the Brantas River," the president stated, after observing the Zero Kilometer of Citarum, Situ Cisanti, Tarumajaya Village, Kertasari Sub-district, Bandung District, on Thursday.

He noted that the revitalization work of the Citarum river bank started on Feb 1, 2018, in Situ Cisanti area, Tarumajaya Village, Kertasari Sub-district, and Bandung District.

"I think this is a big project, and I remind you that it is impossible to finish it within a couple of days or a couple of years, " he remarked.

The government needs around seven years for revitalizing Citarum river bank. "I have counted from the upstream to the downstream, and it requires seven years for completing the project," he revealed.

"We would start from the upstream in February. I am so grateful that we had planted ecological and economical plants," he added.

The plants are rasamala, puspa, manglod, including resin trees.

Earlier, West Java Governor, Ahmad Heryawan, had been scheduled to accompany Widodo, who would launch a movement for handling the pollution and damages in Citarum River bank.

As part of the movement, Widodo will symbolically plant a tree, followed by local farmers, who will plant 1 thousand trees along the river banks, Head of the West Java Environment Agency, Anang Sudarna, added.

Reported by Ajat Sudrajat
(T.KR-TQA/b003/INE)
(U.SYS/B/KR-BSR/A014)

Reporter: SYSTEM
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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