Deputy mayor wants drains dredged

BEKASI: Deputy Mayor Mochtar Mohamad ordered district and subdistrict chiefs on Wednesday to mobilize their residents to dredge the drains in their respective neighborhoods.

"Most of the drains in town are clogged with garbage," the deputy mayor was quoted as saying by Antara.

As with Jakarta, Bekasi also suffers from the annual flooding.

Recently, residents of the Bank of Tokyo and Raflesia housing complexes and parents of Jatimakmur I elementary school students in Pondok Gede urged the Bekasi administration to continue the construction of a drainage system in the area.

However, the construction of the 3 km drain along Jl. Raya Jatimakmur was halted in 2002 for unknown reasons. Since then, the incomplete drain overflows and the runoff floods houses and the school. -- JP