Synergizing Citarum Recovery Through Musrenbang

Taking place at Hotel Horison Bandung, on Tuesday, 15 April 2014, an annual Multi Stakeholder Consultation Forum for Development Planning or locally called ‘Musrenbang’ (Musyawarah Perencana Pembangunan) was held to set a Regional Government Work Plan (RKPD) in West Java Province in 2015.

The forum was attended by the deputy for infrastructure at Ministry of National Development Planning (PPN)/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) representing central government , namely minister of PPN/Head of Bappenas , West Java  governor and his staff representing West Java Province, the chairman of West Java Regional Representative Council, all regents in West Java Province as well as a number of stakeholders related to development planning in West Java Province such as those representing various communities and private companies. This ‘Musrenbang’, aimed at synergizing program proposals and West Java provincial programs, was held under a main theme titled ‘Improving the Quality of Development Outcomes for the Betterment and Welfare of the People of West Java’.

In his opening speech, Ahmad Heryawan mentioned about 10 development aspects in accordance with the West Java’s development vision, namely education, health, infrastructure, agricultural economy, non-agricultural economy, environment, youth art and culture and family and population resilience, supporting with 2 focus programs on multi sectoral development. “All of them or the 10  development aspects are called common goals which will be implemented in sectoral-thematic and regional-thematic approaches”,  Ahmad Heryawan said in his speech.  

In relation with the issue of Citarum River recovery, Ahmad Heryawan said that West Java is blessed with a plentiful potential of water resources. Unfortunately, Citarum, the main river in West Java, has been called as the dirtiest river in the world. “Bandung is a place with abundant water resources. But they are still of no use.  Iraha (meaning  ‘when’ in a Sundanese language) will Citarum water be drinkable?”, he said.

In another speech, Dr. Ir. Dedy Supriadi Priatna MSc, a deputy minister for infrastructure at the ministry of PPN/ Bappenas, expressed central government’s support to West Java Province.  “The performance of West Java Province in 2013 showed a positive progress,” said Dedy. West Java’s economy grew by 6,06%, which was above the average of national economic growth of 5.78%. Poverty level was also successfully cut from 11.27% in 2010 to 9.61% in 2013, said Dedy during his speech. However, people’s access to safe drink water and improved sanitation remained low. Therefore, all of the stakeholders still need to work hard together in all areas including the one related to efforts to improve the synchronization and coordination among central governments, provincial and regional/city governments to face the existing challenges.

Further in his speech, Dedy also cited some strategic projects in West Java Province during a 2015-2019 period, including construction projects of Cilamaya seaport and Kertajati airport.

As a part of support to the implementation of Citarum River recovery planning, a number of investment in a framework of the first phase of Integrated Citarum Water Resources Management and Investment Program (ICWMIP) within 9 regencies and 3 cities in Citarum watershed were held through 9 program activities done by 6 ministries located at areas from upstream to downstream of Citarum River. While the second phase with its focus on raw water supply for Bandung is still under preparation and expected to commence in 2016.

Supporting Citarum Bestari 2018

One of the West Java Province’s action plans within Citarum River recovery efforts is implemented through a program called Citarum Bestari. The implementation is divided into 4 phases, each focusing on a 20-kilometer-long area per year with a target stretching from 0 kilometer point in Citarum upstream area of Situ Cisanti to the Citarum’s 77th kilometer point which is also the upper stream of the Saguling Dam. By 2018, it is targeted that Citarum water will be drinkable. The plan is implemented through an integrated action plan called Multi-stakeholder’s Action Plan-Work Implementation (RAM-IP) which is coordinated by West Java Provincial Governments. There are 90 program activities carried out by various agencies through both national budget (APBN) funds provided by central governments and regional budget (APBD) funds provided by provincial and regional governments, plus CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds, and the programs have begun since the 2014 budget year.

As a show of support to realize Citarum Bestari in 2018, the occasion was also marked by a handover of Document of Citarum Stream 10K-Potential Identification, Challenges and Action Plans from Dedy Supriadi Priatna to Ahmad Heryawan. The Document of Citarum Stream 10K is a documentation of a joint exploration done by a communication team of Cita-Citarum/ICWRMIP, Citarum Recovery Program (CRP) community and West Java BPLHD which represented the West Java governments as well as residents of Kertasari sub-districts held between April and December 2013.

The Citarum Stream 10K document accommodates the need for a comprehensive and detailed data and information to set up the priority of program intervention in water resources management especially in Ctarum upper stream areas. The document is hoped to serve as a reference and help all parties wishing to work in the upper stream area of Citarum.“Now we have the Citarum 10K Document, in this 2014, the recovery program activities on Citarum upper stream region are ready to be launched”, said Ahmad Heryawan. With Citarum water quality improvement program, it is expected to be resulted in, at least, an improved people’s welfare condition through an improvement in people’s health condition, he said.

The handover of Citarum 10K Document from the deputy of infrastructure at the Ministry of PPN/Bappenas to West Java governor.

In a concrete action to support this, ICWMIP has done a series of activities supporting the recovery efforts in Citarum upper stream regions. Through the ministry of health, people have been mobilized to participate in providing supply of raw water and sanitation improvement in Tarumajaya and Cibeureum villages, Kertasari sub-district, Bandung district. Through a grant program on 20- kilometer-long area projects, ministry of forestry through West Java’s BKSDA office now provides guidance on Conservation Model Village in Cihawuk village, Kertasari sub-district. And to increase people’s active participation, with a current pilot project Bappenas also conduct 6 activity phases, focusing on Citarum stream area kilometer points of 0-10 (around Situ Cisanti) and  70-77 (around the upstream area of Saguling Dam).

On the sidelines of the Musrenbang, a photo exhibition themed ‘the stream of life at the Citarum’ was also held to expose the condition of Citarum River in its upper to down stream areas. In addition to land based documentation, photos taken from the air showcase the degradation level of Citarum River. Not only is to make people care more, the Citarum River recovery effort, which contributes to water quality improvement in West Java, is expected to be one of the priority programs of both central and regional governments to make Citarum River clean, healthy and sustainable.

Activities in The Stream of Life of Citarum River photo exhibition held on the sidelines of West Java’s musrenbang