City clean sluice gates as rains start falling

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To minimize possible flooding from downpours that have begun in the capital, the Public Works Agency has started to remove in the last few weeks that constantly clogs the city's sluice gates.

The Jakarta Post observed at sluice gates in Cideng and Karet in Central Jakarta and Manggarai in South Jakarta on Sunday that very little garbage was found drifting in the filthy water while during the dry season it could be seen piling up around the sluice gates.

A member of staff at Manggarai sluice gate, Mashuri, said that workers using four excavators collected 190 truckloads of garbage in the latest cleanup in September.

"As now there is just a little garbage left, we only need to open the gates to let the stream wash away the garbage whenever necessary," he told the Post.

Mashuri said that in the coming days, the gates would be left open to give way for the steady flow of garbage.

"Once the gates are closed, all kinds of waste will pile up and block the waterway," he said.

When asked whether upstream residents were responsible for the never-ending garbage, he said: "I don't want to blame residents in Bogor for polluting the Ciliwung River because people in Jakarta are doing the same thing."

People's habit of treating rivers as dump sites has contributed to the piling of garbage around the sluice gates which could lead to floods in the areas.

At Karet sluice gate, all staff have been told by the agency to stay alert ahead of the rainy season.

Wasimin, a staff member who lives near the gates, said that the clearing of the gates had been done on a regular basis.

"There is just no way that we can stop clearing the waterways as Jakartans have not quit their habit of dumping their garbage into the rivers," he said in despair.

He said that a massive effort to clear the West Flood Canal was only conducted once a year.

"This is when the city's Public Works Agency employs heavy equipment to take out garbage from the canal," he said.

At Cideng sluice gate, an employee said that the agency employed four workers to remove garbage along the stream every day.

"They collect garbage from the gate through to East Cideng Canal, adjacent to the U.N. building," said the employee, who declined to be named.

However, he said that the efforts would not be effective as the main cause of flooding in the capital was not only piling up of garbage at the sluice gates but more the poor city planning and the fast disappearing catchment areas.

In the last three days, rain has fallen in some parts of the capital and water began to inundate some city streets.

A torrential downpour inundated Jl. Sahardjo in Tebet, South Jakarta on Sunday, causing mild traffic congestion. While in Jl. Ir. H. Juanda, Ciputat, Tangerang, water that submerged some sections of the street reached 10 centimeter high.

An official from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) Paulus Winarso called on Jakartans to prepare themselves for possible flooding in the coming months.

"There has been constant rain in the last three days in Jakarta and it is enough for me to conclude that the rainy season is already here," he told the Post.

Paulus said that rains would take place from October to November, marking the beginning of the rainy season.

"It will recede in December, before the peak season from January to February," he said.

Paulus said that the city was increasingly vulnerable to flooding due to the decreasing number of catchment areas or green areas in the city.

Last year, Jakarta suffered the worst floods in modern history when at least 31 people were killed while most of the capital's areas were inundated including its main thoroughfares of Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.