Bekasi River Embankment Not Yet Completed, Bekasi City DPRD Urges Government to Take Emergency Measures to Prevent Flooding

BEKASI, KOMPAS.com — Chair of Commission II of the Bekasi City DPRD, Latu Har Hary, urged the government to promptly take emergency action regarding the Bekasi River embankment project, which remains incomplete due to land acquisition constraints. He said that if the land acquisition status is not yet resolved, the government should not wait too long and must prepare interim solutions to minimise flood risk. ‘If the status of this issue is not clear and clean, then we must be able to take strategic steps of an emergency nature,’ Latu said after a river walk along the Bekasi River with the Komunitas Peduli Sungai Cileungsi-Cikeas (KP2C), Balai Besar Wilayah Sungai Citarum (BWSCC), and several residents, on Thursday, 5 March 2026. ‘Whether it uses sandbags or gabions, we will support it,’ he added. He went on to say that the funding sources for both interim and permanent solutions would be discussed further, whether they come from the central government, the provincial government, the Bekasi City Government, or a combination of the three. That step, Latu said, is important so that affected communities feel safe because there is concrete policy in place even if it is temporary. According to him, this is preferable to the land acquisition problem that continues to hang over the project without certainty. Latu stressed that flood issues are a crucial matter in Bekasi City, requiring cross-level government support, including budget and policy. ‘The Bekasi City DPRD will also support, both in terms of budget and policy, because this concerns resolving the flood problem that is also awaited by the residents of Bekasi City,’ he said. The river walk, he added, forms part of the effort to identify vulnerable points that remain homework (PR) for flood management, particularly with regard to the embankments. ‘Because we do not want such incidents to recur. Bekasi in particular has a flood cycle roughly every five years, and this cycle is accelerating year by year,’ he said. Latu emphasised that the acceleration of flood management must be achieved through cross-sectoral coordination. The Bekasi City DPRD Commission II has held a meeting with BWSCC, the National Land Agency (BPN), Perum Jasa Tirta (PJT) II, KP2C, and the Department of Public Works and Water Resources (BMSDA) of Bekasi City. ‘To anticipate this, we need to sit down together. We will also hold further meetings to ensure a number of issues can be resolved promptly, whether by the central government, the provincial government, or Bekasi City Government,’ he said.