PORTALJABAR, DISTRICT. WEST BANDUNG - West Java Province Regional Secretary Herman Suryatman inspected the condition of the Citarum River in the Batujajar Babakan Sapan Bridge (BBS) area, Selacau Village, Batujajar District, West Bandung Regency, Tuesday (18/6/2024).

On this occasion, Regional Secretary Herman Suryatman coordinated with various stakeholders to monitor river conditions.

This is done to ensure the cleanliness of the river within one month up to a radius of 500 meters to the west and east.

"God willing, we will make an effort. The strategy has already been discussed. It will take additional time to complete it around July, it can be cleared in 1.5 months," said Herman.

"So we will try to clear a radius of 500 meters to the west and east and in a month and a half we will push the radius beyond that," he added.

Herman explained that when cleaning the Citarum River under the BBS Bridge, the type of rubbish was not just new rubbish, but there was also rubbish that had been buried at the bottom of the river for a long time.

Therefore it takes a month to remove the rubbish.

"Why does it take an additional month because the nature of the waste in this sector is not just new rubbish, relatively a lot of it is actually old rubbish that is inside, when the wind rises upwards," he explained.

"Therefore, we are handling the existing infrastructure so that this week the area 500 meters to the west and east will be clean," he said.

Not only that, the West Java Provincial Government together with BBWS Citarum will install nets in the upstream of the Citarum River to filter rubbish.

"Including, we will install nets upstream so that we can filter new waste that does not enter downstream. The key is collaboration of all parties for Citarum Harum, that's why we invite city districts in the Bandung Basin," concluded Herman.