Flood canal project hits a brick wall
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It is growing increasingly unlikely that the city administration will allocate the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$138,298) needed for clearing the 250 hectares of land for the East Flood Canal Project this year as expressed by city Governor Sutiyoso in February.
Head of the city planning agency (Bapeda) Ritola Sasmaya said here on Saturday that the 2002 city budget for development projects was Rp 3.63 trillion, while the funds allocated for drainage and flood projects was only Rp 294.3 billion.
"If we have to spend Rp 1.3 trillion for the land clearance, we have to cut other development projects. But I'm not sure there are any projects that could be canceled," Ritola said.
The 23-kilometer long East Flood Canal project which is estimated to cost about Rp 12 trillion is a joint project between the Central Government and the city administration as an effort to solve the annual flood problem in the city.
Sutiyoso said in February that the land clearance, which is the responsibility of the city administration, should be completed this year to assure that the project construction, which will be finalized within 10 years, could be started this year.
Ritola said that financial constraints were not the only problem in implementing the land clearance as the land owners demanded that their lands should be priced much higher than the Taxable Property Sale Value (NJOP).
Ritola said that the city public works agency could only pay the owners 40 percent of the NJOP. But he said that there were two regulations on the land clearance that contradicted each other.
"One regulation says that the city should buy land from the people at the NJOP price. Another regulation says that the land price should be determined by negotiations with owners. That's another problem," he added.
"If the city allocates money for the land clearance, there should be a political decision (made by the city council and city administration)," he added.
The East Flood Canal is part of the government's plan to build a half-circle-like canal along the northern and eastern parts of the city that will function as a massive drain for the 13 rivers here, which originate in the highlands of Bogor and Depok in West Java and empty into the Java Sea off North Jakarta.
The other project is the 14-kilometer long West Flood Canal constructed in 1924 by the Dutch colonial government. That canal needs to be upgraded and properly maintained as it has fallen into disrepair in recent years.
A feasibility study and design plan for the East Flood Canal was done by an Amsterdam-based consulting group, Nedeco, in 1976, but has not yet been acted upon, and since that time thousands of houses have been illegally built in the areas designated for the canal.