Jakarta – The Jakarta provincial government plans to plant and establish mother-in-law tongue (lidah mertua) gardens at the mayor’s office and local administrative offices to reduce pollution in Jakarta.
The head of the Jakarta Food, Sea and Agriculture Resilience Office (KPKP), Darjamuni, explained that they are coordinating with other government agencies and offices to put mother-in-law tongue gardens on the roofs of office buildings.
“A tender process was held the other day and it’s currently in the review period. Hopefully in late July we can begin to implement it in the field. Our office will become a pilot project and we hope that local administrative offices and the mayor’s office will also apply something similar”, said Darjamuni as quoted by the Antara state news agency.
Darjamuni explained that mother-in-law tongue plants, which are called Sansiviera in Latin, have the potential to become anti-pollutants and could reduce air pollution in the capital.
And it will not just be government offices. Darjamuni hopes that similar projects will be applied at private sector buildings and throughout Jakarta.
“There are so many buildings in Jakarta, if we can place mother-in-law tongues it can help reduce air pollution. So we’ll hold a tender because a lot of plants are need to be placed on the capitals rooftops”, he explained.
He did not give any details on the budget that has been set aside for the project.
In addition to planting mother-in-law tongues, the Jakarta KPKP also plans as system of hydroponic gardens at several government agency offices using the concept of wall gardens as part of the greening movement and at the same time to add to the esthetic value of office buildings. (Antara/ugo)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Kurangi Polusi Udara, Pemprov DKI Akan Tanam ‘Lidah Mertua’”.]
