MINISTERS, JAKARTA GOVERNOR CRUISE ALONG CILIWUNG RIVER

Jakarta, Dec. 5 (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono, Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al-Jufri, and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo cruised along Ciliwung river, here on Saturday.

They inspected the river starting from Kampung Melayu to Manggarai watergate by rubber boats to see the impacts of the city's environmental programs.

The river is polluted with garbages and its color is brown, while most of the residents living in small wooden houses built illegally along the river's bank threw their wastes directly to the river.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said about 70,000 families consisting of roughly 350,000 people living in buildings constructed along the river's bank.

The Ciliwung river's pollution and slump area where the poor living along the river's bank have caused many problems such as regular floods, diseases and other social problems.

Minister Agung Laksono said the government was trying to improve the Ciliwung river's condition and to prevent water pollution by implementing an environmental program in the area.

The government would also move the people living in the river's bank to some other areas, the minister said.

"We will draft an integrated and sustainable development plan to transfer the people living in the river's bank dignifiedly. We don't want to just move the poverty from this place to another area, as the focus of the plan is to improve their welfare," Minister Agung Laksono said.