Development and flooding

Development and flooding

Several years now the debate on development in Bopunjur (Bogor, Puncak and Cianjur) has been going on without any apparent solution. In the meantime building construction has continued with the support of the local administration. We can now find many real estate developments sprouting up everywhere around Bopunjur, which is supposed to be a water catchment for Jakarta to prevent flooding in the capital city.

A similar situation is happening in Lembang, north of Bandung, which sooner or later will threaten the city of Bandung with greater floods, especially because Bandung is like a bowl surrounded by so many mountains and hills. Even Ciater is now becoming a target of the greedy developers.

In December 1995 I wrote in Your Letters section about the spectacular development of apartments in Jakarta that could be considered as excessive and too expensive, with the potential to create bad debts, among other problems. Those apartments also share in making Jakarta vulnerable to uncontrollable flooding. This is worsened by the unfriendly Java sea, which in recent years has had higher tides than usual.

It is also interesting to take a look around the Cibubur area on the left side of the Jagorawi toll road when heading for Bogor. It will soon be crowded with real estate developments and other types of dwellings, especially now that a new road is available to Cianjur. I remember that in 1970 this area was declared as a water catchment for Jakarta.

What has happened with all those plans? How is the road to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Cengkareng being affected by the elimination of all those creeks along the North Jakarta coast for the Kapuk project and golf courses? Who will be held responsible for all the suffering experienced by so many people going to and from the airport? Is there anybody that can tell us who the person responsible is?

But once again, all those projects would not have materialized had the local and central administrations been firm in upholding their development concepts (if they were ever available). So it is not only the fault of the greedy developers and the rich, but also that of the local and central administrations.

First of all we have to check again whether we really have a master plan. We also have to ensure that everybody abide by existing regulations, which is possible only if there is reliable supervision and coordination. Any necessary adjustments to the planning and regulations must be jointly discussed with all related departments. Civil servants be guard against letting themselves be tempted by money coming from developers, or other sources, that may lead to the deviation of plans or concepts.

Further development in Bopunjur has been banned by the government. However I am skeptical as to whether this ban can be effected to the letter because of greed. People are ready to block the execution of the ban. Moreover, I see the ban as an action by impulse, and not a conceptual one. Well I hope the Indonesian people, the government, the developers, the conglomerates and wealthy individuals, will realize that this is a serious problem and too risky to be tackled without any firm concept. May all of us learn quickly and correctly from our not so good past in this matter, and take proper action accordingly for the sake of us all and of our descendants.

H.W. PIENANDORO

Cimanggis, Bogor,

West Java