City struggles to return to normal

City struggles to return to normal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Life in the capital began to return to normal on Monday as
floods in various parts of the city continued to recede despite
the heavy rain that fell in the morning. But it would obviously
still be a long time before the city could really resume business
as usual.

Major shopping centers like Roxy Mas and Mangga Dua as well as
many shops, which were closed in the past two days, were now open
despite the lack of visitors. More employees came to work as the
water in their houses receded, even though they still found it
difficult to reach the office due to traffic jams.

"Many of us arrived late at the office due to the traffic
jams, while many others still could not come because they are
still trapped in their houses due to the floods," said a
marketing executive of an IT company on Jl. Sudirman, Central
Jakarta.

The Deutsche Bank refused to take any risks by providing
accommodation at Hotel Mandarin for their employees whose houses
were severely affected by floods.

McDonald's on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, which was closed
for two days due to floods and power outages, had resumed
business.

But it was still a holiday for employees at PT Jamsostek, on
Jl. Gatot Subroto, as there was no power supply from the state
electricity company PT PLN, while the generator in its basement
was inundated by water. Its offices in Pluit, Grogol, Rawamangun
and Tanjung Priok could not operate.

Many schools were still closed, either because they were
flooded or they were being used as a temporary shelter for flood
victims.

Until noon on Monday, there were still more than 900
electrical relay stations which remained shut down, compared to
more than 1,200 on Saturday.

The recent floods hit 163 out of 268 subdistricts in all of
the 43 districts in the city.

At its peak between Wednesday and Friday, floodwaters in the
most affected areas like Cipinang, East Jakarta, reached six
meters. On Monday at 8 a.m., it reached 300 centimeters in
Cipinang Besar Utara, but before noon, it had receded to 100 cm.

Floodwaters also inundated certain roads, including Jl. HR
Rasuna Said in South Jakarta, causing severe traffic jams.
Vehicles inched along the road slowly, but the condition was not
as bad as Wednesday and Friday, when thousands of people were
forced to spend the night in their cars on the street or at the
office.

The floods have apparently caused severe damage to the roads.

According to the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional
Infrastructure, there were damaged roads in 58 locations in the
city and it is estimated that it would need Rp 106 billion to
repair them. Many roads, however, had been damaged before the
floods hit the city.

The ministry also estimated that flood control projects in
Jakarta, including the proposed East Flood Canal, would need Rp
16.3 trillion.

"The project could be completed in the next ten years,"
Minister Soenarno told reporters after meeting Jakarta Governor
Sutiyoso at City Hall along with five other Cabinet ministers on
Monday.

The construction of the planned East Flood Canal would
reportedly need Rp 1.3 trillion for appropriation of the required
230 hectares of land.

The Rp 16.3 trillion would also be used for other projects,
such as repairing the current West Flood Canal and restoring the
catchment area in the mountainous Puncak area, West Java.

Puncak should actually serve as a catchment area to protect
the city from the flow of water from Bogor regency, where the
main rivers in the city came from. Unfortunately, many buildings
have been built in the area while the authorities did not make
any effort to stop them.

The meeting at City Hall concluded that a comprehensive plan
to control flooding in the city would be decided in the next two
weeks by President Megawati Soekarnoputri through a decree.

The floods have killed at least 31 people in Greater Jakarta,
while five people are still missing.

An employee at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital morgue said
that they had received two unidentified bodies of adult males on
Monday, and another one on Sunday. The three of them had drowned.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicted that it would
rain on Tuesday, with temperatures between 23 and 31 degrees
Celsius, while according to weatherunderground.com there would be
a chance of rain in the night with temperatures between 25 and 28
degrees Celsius.