City to take over land acquisition for canal

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Responding to criticism over the slow rate of land acquisition for the East Flood Canal (BKT) project, the city administration plans to take over the acquisition process from the East Jakarta municipal administration.

Jakarta Planning Agency (Bapeda) director Achmad Haryadi said on Tuesday that this year the city had allocated Rp 150 billion (US$16.67 million) of taxpayers' money to acquire 40 hectares of land for the project.

"But the East Jakarta administration was only able to acquire 4.5 hectares of the total area needed," Haryadi said during a plenary hearing with the City Council to discuss next year's city development plan.

According to Haryadi, the city administration had to take over the process so that the construction of the project could be resumed as quickly as possible. The central government was also ready to contribute money to the project, he said.

The canal is a joint project between the city administration and the central government, with the Jakarta administration providing around Rp 2.47 trillion to acquire 400 hectares of land for the project and the central government providing some Rp 2.53 trillion for its construction.

The canal will be 23 kilometers long and between 100 meters and 300 meters in width. The administration will also use the canal for water transportation purposes.

Since the project commenced in 2003, the administration has managed to acquire some 44.5 hectares. Next year, it plans to spend Rp 450 billion on the acquisition of around 120 hectares.

The acquisition of the land for the project is expected to be completed in 2007. The administration plans to acquire 100 hectares in 2006 and another 135 hectares in 2007.

Haryadi said the East Flood Canal was expected to solve the flood problem in 13 of the city's 78 flood-prone areas, while ongoing river dredging up to 2006 was expected to solve the problem in 15 other flood-prone areas.

The East Flood Canal and the existing West Flood Canal will jointly create a semicircular canal that will take excess water from 13 major rivers that originate in the highlands of West Java and flow through the city.

The West Flood Canal, which is 14 kilometers long and runs from Manggarai in South Jakarta to Penjaringan district in North Jakarta was constructed in 1924 by the Dutch colonial government.

The East Flood Canal will start in Cipinang, East Jakarta, and end in Marunda, North Jakarta. It was designed by Netherlands Engineering Consultants (Nedeco) in 1973.