City's river project lacks funds
City's river project lacks funds
JAKARTA (JP): The municipality does not have a budget
sufficient to fund the city river normalization program, Abdul
Kahfi, deputy governor for administrative affairs, said
yesterday.
"I know that one of the reasons floods occur is because there
are river banks that have not been cleared yet. Moreover, it is
quite hard to force people living along the river banks to move
out," he said.
Kahfi was responding to questions about the latest flooding,
especially in Cipinang, East Jakarta, which is reportedly the
worst in six years.
Many residents, still reeling from the weekend deluge, were
struck again when heavy rains fell across the city on Monday.
Many parts of the affected areas were still under water
yesterday.
"The city has not stopped the river normalization program and
despite the lack of funds we will do our best to run the
projects," Kahfi said.
The city's public works agency was allocated Rp 54.77 billion
for the 1997/1998 financial year, of which about Rp 30 billion
has been used to recondition the city's waterways and in a sand
quarrying project.
"The budget needed to support the normalization program is
enormous. It is hard for the municipality to cope with this,
especially during the monetary crisis," he added.
The latest data from the city's flood post showed that most
parts of seven badly flooded subdistricts in East Jakarta were
still inundated yesterday. Those affected were Cipinang Muara,
Klender, Ciracas, Kramatjati, Kampung Rambutan, Cipinang Ranti
and Pondok Bambu.
Water levels were still between 20 and 100 centimeters.
Some 2,200 houses were affected by the flood in Cipinang Muara
subdistrict alone.
Similar conditions could be found in Bukit Duri subdistrict in
South Jakarta, where water levels yesterday were between 40 to 50
centimeters.
Head of Cipinang Muara subdistrict Abdul Fatah said that some
stretches of the Sunter river narrow from 10 meters down to 3
meters. The river current is very strong in these narrow reaches.
He explained that the cause of this was "mainly because the
city has not yet finished the river normalization project in this
part of Kali Sunter."
He said once the project is completed, the Cipinang area
would be 'free' from floods, like in Pulogadung, an area in which
the rivers have now been dredged, cleared and have an unimpeded
flow of water. (edt)