City restarts delayed East Canal project
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration has started the development of the delayed East Flood Canal project, which will span 23 kilometers from East Jakarta to the sea off North Jakarta, as part of its efforts to overcome flooding in the city.
Chief of the City Public Works Agency IGKG Suena said on Saturday that his office was currently carrying out land clearance for the canal construction. "And we'll start digging a 6.5 kilometer passage between Cipinang River and Buaran River early next year," he said.
The 23-kilometer East Flood Canal will span DI. Panjaitan, Cipinang, Buaran, Pondok Kopi, Cakung (all in East Jakarta) to Marunda beach in North Jakarta.
The project, which was earlier handled by the central government, was supposed to have started in 1986 but was delayed for reasons that remain unclear.
"We hope the development of the 23-kilometer canal will be completed in five years," Suena said.
He said the project's development, which was designed by Amsterdam-based consultant Nodeco in 1976, would need Rp 1.3 trillion (US$130 million).
The agency's water management division head, Leo Yanmer Sianturi, said the administration had acquired some 3 hectares of land worth Rp 40 billion this year for the canal, which needs 230 hectares of land.
Leo said some 40 percent of the 230 hectares of land are expected to be donated as a social and public facility by 14 private developers of housing complexes in East Jakarta.
"We would ask developers, including PT Modern Land, to give the land up as their obligation," he told reporters.
He said the remaining 60 percent of the project, which would separate Jatinegara district and Duren Sawit district, should be provided by the administration.
He said the canal project would require a huge budget as the market price for some of the land needed for the project was very expensive.
"But if we want to tackle the flood problem, we have to complete the canal project," Leo remarked.
In North Jakarta, the government has also constructed a canal, which is called the West Flood Canal with a length of about 20 kilometers.
When finalized, both the West and East Flood Canal will become one flood canal spanning a half circle from Ancol beach to Marunda beach. It will combat flooding in Jakarta by taking in the overflow of water from all of the city's 13 rivers, which all empty into the northern coastal areas.
The administration earlier demolished hundreds of illegal slum houses in the west canal's riverbank in an effort to overcome the problem of flooding.
Suena said on Saturday that his office would set up fences and build a road along the canal's riverbank to prevent people from entering.