City flooding under control: Public works

City flooding under control: Public works

JAKARTA (JP): The head of the maintenance division at the
public works agency, Leo Y. Sianturi, said the levels of the
city's main rivers, the Pesanggrahan and Ciliwung, are normal.

"Areas which are inundated are still mainly those near these
riverbanks," said Leo, who is in charge of the central city post
of flood monitoring (Posko banjir).

The monitoring post for the Pesanggrahan River in Bogor showed
that the 265 river level recorded on Tuesday evening has
decreased to 165, Leo said. The condition of the Pesanggrahan is
considered dangerous when the level stands between 250 and 350.

A residential area near the Pesanggrahan River in Pondok
Pinang was under 1.5 meters of floodwater on Tuesday.

At the Karet sluice gate in South Jakarta, the river level is
still 400, Leo said, far below the dangerous figure of 550 to
600.

The central post sends warning signals to the mayoralties'
five units when the level at the city's eight other sluice gates
are above normal.

The other sluice gates include those in Depok, Manggarai,
Pulogadung, Sunter, the Cakung and Cengkareng drains.

The mayoralties then sound the alarm, including their new
sirens or traditional wooden alarms (kentongan) to warn their
surroundings.

In North Jakarta the level was still at the normal level of
135 yesterday, but low-lying areas which make up 40 percent of
the mayoralty were already inundated.

A traffic jam occurred yesterday during the morning downpour
along roads leading to the Dukuh Atas underpass. But Leo played
down fears that the area near the Shangri-La Hotel and the
Landmark Building would be submerged again.

In February, two nearby pumps could not cope with the amount
of water, the level of which eventually reached the top of the
traffic lights.

"Both pumps are working now," Leo said.

The agency's two high-volume portable pumps and its 40,000
sandbags have not been used yet, he said. So far the flood units
under the five mayoralties are still considered able to handle
any inundated areas in their surroundings.

More portable pumps are on order, while the river authorities
under the Ministry of Public Works, called the office of
Ciliwung-Cisadane rivers improvement project, have 13 portable
pumps.

In South Jakarta, Mayor Pardjoko said the dike near the IKPN
housing area in Bintaro is being extended by another 900 meters.

Six hundred meters have already been completed while the
entire extension is scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of the
month, when the rains are expected to become worse. IKPN and
Bukit Duri in Tebet are among the most vulnerable areas in South
Jakarta. Residents of IKPN mostly have two-story homes and some
have their own rubber dinghies. (yns/anr)