City asked to anticipate floods by dredging rivers

City asked to anticipate floods by dredging rivers

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Meteorological and Geophysical Agency (BMG) said rainfall
during the next rainy season would be normal, but that should not
be regarded as a guarantee that significant flooding would not
affect the city, given its lack of flood-prevention
infrastructure.

BMG's head of forecasting and services Achmad Zakir therefore
urged the city administration to anticipate possible flooding by
dredging all rivers that could potentially disrupt the flow of
rainwater in the city and from upland areas of the city.

"Heavy downpours are only one of the elements that can cause
flooding. Another is the city's flood-prevention infrastructure.
So far I have not seen a significant move to improve the
infrastructure," Achmad told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"Although rainfall in the city will not be as heavy as last
year's, the necessary measures should begin now. Heavy rainfall
in the Bogor area, which is unpredictable, should be
anticipated," Achmad said.

BMG does not include Bogor regency, West Java, in the seasonal
forecasting region (DPM) as rainfall in the area is
unpredictable.

Achmad said that, based on the BMG forecast, the rainy season
in the capital would begin in early October. Rain would start to
fall in the southern part of the city, while other parts would
receive rain in November.

He added that the peak of the rainy season would occur in
January next year. He estimated that the downpours in Jakarta and
its surrounding area for the next rainy season would be normal:
between 977 millimeters and 2,360 milimeters.

Achmad, however, said that in Jakarta and its environs late
September was a transitional period between the dry and rainy
seasons; therefore sporadic rains had already begun in several
areas.

Meanwhile, Mezak A. Ratag, head of climatic affairs at the
National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), said that rainfall
in Jakarta and surrounding areas could be higher than normal.

"There is a possibility that rainfall in Jakarta and other
parts of Java could be 15 percent to 20 percent higher than usual
if the warm water storms head to the Indian Ocean," Mezak told
the Post on Monday.

He said Lapan was currently studying developments concerning
the storm, the results of which were expected to be known next
month.

Meanwhile, head of the Public Works Agency (PU) IGKG Suena
said that the city administration and the central government had
begun to make some improvements to the flooding infrastructure,
including dredging a number of rivers and repairing the city's
drainage system.

He said that the central government had allocated Rp 70
billion to dredge a number of rivers, including Kali Angke (for
three kilometers), the Ciliwung at Jl. Gunung Sahari and several
other smaller rivers in the city, which were silted up.

The city administration has allocated some Rp 3.5 billion for
improvements to the drainage system.

"The projects are being carried out now and are expected to be
completed in December," he said.

Suena, however, said there was no guarantee that flooding
would be totally under control as the main flood project, the
Eastern Flood Canal, could not be implemented this year.