'Kalijodo Red-Light District to Be Turned Into Public Park'
Jakarta. The Jakarta city administration will transform the infamous red-light district of Kalijodo in northwest of Jakarta into a public park, a local official has said, following reports that the driver who allegedly caused a fatal road crash early on Monday on Jalan Daan Mogot had been drinking alcohol in the area.
Riki Agung Prasetio has been named a suspect and could face six years in jail for negligent driving after hitting a motorcycle in the early hours of Monday. He is believed to have reached speeds of 90 to 100 kilometers per hour while under the influence, killing two motorcyclists and two passengers in his car.
Riki and his eight friends previously had been drinking beer at a karaoke booth in Kalijodo, one of the oldest prostitution and gambling districts in the capital.
According to the head of West Jakarta's Tambora subdistrict, Dajaharuddin, Kalijodo is to be made into a green space as part of the Spatial Master Plan (RTRW) for Jakarta 2010-30.
However, some of the buildings in the red-light district area are officially in West Jakarta, while others are in North Jakarta.
“We surely cannot do this all by ourselves because many of the buildings are registered as North Jakarta's. We are currently coordinating [with the North Jakarta government],” Djaharuddin said on Thursday (11/02).
He added: “The Jakarta government will demolish the [illegal] settlements and create parks or natural gas filling stations in Kalijodo.”
The Jakarta administration previously said it would not delay any longer its plans of evicting squatters from Kalijodo, which is situated on the banks of the Western Flood Canal in Tambora, as well as shutting down the long-condoned prostitution complex there.
Police will coordinate with the Jakarta administration on the plans, said Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, chief of the Jakarta Police.
"If the Kalijodo area is to be blamed, it will be up to the city administration. We will support whatever policies the administration will make," the police chief said on Wednesday.
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