Jakarta: Moving to Machine-based Sweeping

Jakarta's streets can be in terrible shape after it rains. Even a tiny amount of flooding can leave the streets covered in residual mud and debris after a big downpour – debris that can also quickly clog drainage pipes and cause even more flooding.

To help prevent this and clean up the capital's streets, Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said he would invest Rp 200 billion in purchasing new street sweeper machines.

"[We will spend] around Rp 200 billion (@ $30million US) to buy 20 to 100 large street sweepers," Ahok said. He said the money had already been allocated in the regional budget draft for 2016.

Right now, street cleaning in still primarily done by non-permanent employees from the Department of Sanitation, who sweep by hand, but Ahok said that in the future all of the city's main streets will be cleaned using sweeper machines.

The machines, which are manufactured by Dulevo, are capable of sweeping the road at about 15 kilometers per hour. The units are capable of sucking up the garbage that clog drains and are equipped with a high pressure pump for rinsing the roads and sidewalks. Similar machines are used in cities such as Paris, Dubai, and Singapore.

"Our entry into the Asian marketplace began in 2008 with India," said Marco Bardini, Strategic Marketing Manager for Dulevo International SpA, which is located in Italy.

"We are happy to be in Southeast Asia and represented by our dealers in all the most important Asian countries. In the markets of Singapore and Jakarty, the Dulevo brand is strong due to the collaboration with our important dealers such as Kenco and Starindo.

"As the manufacturer, Dulevo is aware and pleased that we can offer a cleaning product of high quality, high performance and high efficiency. Our machines can pick up both light, heavy and voluminous material and have a high working speed, therefore reducing cleaning time.

The machines constantly filter any fine dust and they minimize use of an important resource, water. We believe our machines are best suited for urban cleaning, particularly the streets of Jakarta, which demand volume and consistency."

Dulevo markets its sweepers as environmentally friendly, with lower noise and dust emission, as well as low water and fuel consumption. The sweepers also have proven capable of fine dust reduction as well as water savings of up to 60%. The engine complies with the latest EU regulations on emission.