Surabaya Should Learn From Thailand in Arranging Slums Along Riverbank
Rabu, 27 Juli 2016 21:14 WIB
Thailand has spoken of its success in arranging areas along its riverbanks. I think Surabaya can follow suit
Surabaya (Antara Jatim) - Surabaya city in East Java should learn from Thai cities which have successfully arranged slums along riverbanks, a local legislator said.
"Thailand has spoken of its success in arranging areas along its riverbanks. I think Surabaya can follow suit," Chief of the Surabaya City Legislative Assembly (DPRD) Armuji said after attending the third session of the Preparatory Committee (Prepcom 3) of of the UN Habitat III Conference at Grand City here on Wednesday.
By learning from the Thai success, the Surabaya city government does not need to demolish houses to arrange slums along the city's riverbanks, he said.
"If (their owners) are to be removed, two or three storey flats should be built in the areas to resettle them so they will not be evicted from their kampongs," he said.
Several slums along Surabaya's riverbanks including Jambangan, Medokan Ayu and Bratang can be arranged in such a way as the Thai cities have done, he said.
He went on to say the the Prepcom3 has also taught the Surabaya city government a lot of things.
Many academics from various foreign institutes of higher learning took part in Prepcom 3. Of course, they have a lot of solutions to offer to city governments, he said.
He said the success of Prepcom 3 showed that Rp30 billion the city government has spent so far was not useless.
The Surabaya residents can directly feel the advantage of the budget used to arrange Tunjungan area and to support Prepcom 3, he said.
Citing an example, he said when Festival Festival was held, many residents visited it. "Local residents also felt the benefit of Prepcom delegates' visit to their kampongs," he said. (*)