City administration plans five new dams to deal with floods

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an effort to anticipate future floods, the city administration will build five new dams worth billions of rupiah this year to comply with the East Flood Canal megaproject.

Head of the City Public Works Department, IGKG Suena, said on Monday after a hearing with the City Council Commission D for development affairs that building the dams and the canal was the administration's plan to anticipate future floods.

The first dam will be built on a 6,000-square-meter lot in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. The Rp 6 billion (US$600,000) dam will be financed by the 2002 city budget.

Suena said the other two dams would also be built in Kelapa Gading area. Construction of both the dams will be financed by PT Sumarecon private developer and a firm owned by the Indonesian Navy.

Kelapa Gading housing estate was inundated for the first time since it was built in the 1980s.

In another part of the city, a dam will be constructed in the southern part of the Prof. Sedyatmo toll road, North Jakarta, which connects the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and downtown. A part of the toll road was also inundated during last month's flood.

The construction will be financed by PT Mandara Permai, developer of the nearby Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) upmarket housing estate. PIK has been blamed for flooding in slum areas in nearby Kapuk Muara subdistrict.

The fifth dam will be built on Tunjungan river, not far from PIK. The construction and purchase of a water pump will cost Rp 28 billion.

The administration will also buy four new water pumps each with a capacity of six cubic meters per second. Each pump costs Rp 24 billion. The pumps will replace the old ones at Pluit dam, North Jakarta.

The dam has decreased in size after hundreds of illegal residents occupy its edge. The Public Works Department has repeatedly complained that the people resisted relocation.

As for the East Flood Canal, the administration has allocated Rp 12 billion for land acquisition. Last year, about 20 hectares of land was claimed for the project which needs a total of 230 hectares.

This year, the city budget allocates about Rp 250 billion for flood projects, including the building of dams and the canal land acquisition.