On January 29, 2021, Magelang city government, with assistance from USAID IUWASH PLUS, launched its regular desludging service, named Senja Kota Magelang (Sedot Tinja Kota Magelang/desludging service of Magelang city).
During the launch the Head of Housing and Settlement Office of Magelang city, Mrs. Handini Rahayu, informed the participants that the city government has worked with USAID IUWASH PLUS since 2019 to prepare the regular desludging service implementation. The preparation includes issuance of the Mayor Regulation No 23/2020 on the Desludging Service, development of SOPs on desludging service and wastewater treatment plant, and creation of customer database management system, public awareness raising on the importance of septic tank and desludging service to the community, and census to identify potential customers. This event marked Magelang city as the third USAID IUWASH PLUS supported area in Central Java region that has had regular desludging service.
In mid-2020 by USAID IUWASH PLUS through FORKAMI did a cencus that found around 1,400 households are potential to receive regular desludging service from the UPT PALD as the technical implementing unit under the housing and settlement office that manages domestic wastewater.
Following this launching, the housing and settlement office will prepare the schedule for desludging services based on the data generated from the potential customer census and engage community groups to promote this service. The UPT PALD plans to start delivering the desludging service in February 2021.
Closing the event, the Deputy Mayor Windarti Agustina, highlighted the city government’s commitment to socializing the regular desludging service to all stakeholders and to allocating budget to sustain the service.
