Dam project to affect 4,000 families

JAKARTA: As many as 4,000 families will be evicted from swamp land in Pluit, North Jakarta as part of a dam dredging project expected to begin early next year.

About 80 hectares of swamp will be dredged by the City Public Works Agency to widen a dam in a bid to ease annual flooding.

Antara reported that it was estimated that as much as 459,560 cubic meters of mud and soil would be removed from the area.

North Jakarta Major Soebagyo said the city administration had prepared a place to move the families although it was still undecided as to whether all had the right to be relocated as half did not have Jakarta ID cards.

Soebagyo has not been able to say where the money for the relocation is coming from or where the families will be moved to.

Soebagyo said he hoped that like residents in Muara Angke, also in North Jakarta, those affected would receive help from a charitable foundation, which is providing 1,500 houses for Muare Angke residents. --JP