Coping with floods
Coping with floods
A week after the worst floods in living memory swamped large
sections of Jakarta last weekend, it seems that the repercussions
of the disaster continue to preoccupy the Indonesian capital
city. It seems that everybody, from the Minister of Environment
down to city officials and concerned citizens are offering ideas
on how the city's flood problems should be managed in future.
Undoubtedly the most noteworthy of these proposals is the
plan put forward by Governor Surjadi Soedirdja last week to
broaden the Ciliwung riverbank. In the first stage, as reported
by the newspaper Kompas earlier this week, the plan calls for a
widening of 800 meters of riverbank along a densely populated
stretch in Kampung Melayu in eastern Jakarta. From its present
average width of 20 meters the riverbank along this particular
location will be widened to 60 meters. Eventually, the project
will be extended to other areas along the Ciliwung and other
rivers passing through the city.
Although a span of 800 meters to begin with may not sound like
much, we believe the plan is worth mulling over because it
addresses one of the key factors contributing to Jakarta's flood
problem. Many experts have since long warned that uncontrolled
construction along Jakarta's rivers -- of which the Ciliwung is
the biggest and most important -- will eventually lead to
disasters such as flooding, or contamination with poisonous
waste. Thus there can be no doubt that the plan is, in itself,
laudable. The big question is, will it work?
Clearing Jakarta's crowded riverbanks is a truly gigantic task
which will have not only social but also political consequences.
The costs involved will be tremendous. It will necessitate the
relocation of tens if not hundreds of thousands of families, not
all of which can be expected to be poor and without influence.
And this operation would be unlikely to make the administration
overly popular among the hundreds of thousands of people
affected.
No less important a question is whether merely relocating
people and clearing the riverbanks will help to rid Jakarta of
its' perennial floods. The problem is that Jakarta's rivers are
fed by streams which have their origin in the mountainous
hinterland of West Java, where overpopulation and crowded
riverbanks present the same problem as in Jakarta. In addition,
the upstream reaches of the rivers that flow through Jakarta are
gradually losing their function as water catchment areas due to
uncontrolled construction.
Thus, although clearing the overcrowded riverbanks in the city
will certainly help the problem to a certain degree, the problem
itself will persist as long as uncontrolled land use in the
upstream areas continues. Schemes can be devised to improve
cooperation between the authorities in Jakarta and in neighboring
West Java. But, again, the big question is: can the current
pattern of unrestrained construction in those areas be brought
under control?
Sadly, evidence so far has shown that the answer is no. For
years the authorities in West Java have threatened to tear down
villas in the Puncak highlands, that are not covered by proper
building permits. In spite of this, as we can see, building
continues despite the fact that in the Puncak area new
construction is supposed to be prohibited or at least subject to
stringent controls. To this end, a special decree was issued by
President Soeharto to place the development of the Puncak area
under the supervision of the Minister of Environment.
In essence, we believe the Jakarta city administration is on
the right track by stating its' determination to deal with the
overcrowding of the city's riverbanks "consistently and without
bargaining". Certainly the plan deserves our wholehearted
support. What we would like to see now is the authorities proving
themselves as good as their word this time and pursuing the
scheme with inflexible integrity. Only then will it stand a
chance of success -- if not in eliminating the flood problem in
Jakarta, then at least making it less of a nightmare next time
around.