Flood-hit sluice gates to be repaired

Flood-hit sluice gates to be repaired

JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon repair the sluice gates
damaged by the recent flooding in the capital, Minister of Public
Works Radinal Moochtar said yesterday.

Radinal told Commission V of the House of Representatives in a
hearing yesterday that some of the gates, which have been jammed
by garbage and debris for years, would have to be cleaned as
well.

The recent floods have worsened the condition of the sluice
gates, he added.

The city had once 39 sluice gates, but many of them are now
out of order because of garbage. He did not say how many sluice
gates are still operational.

The biggest flood in the last 20 years hit 58 subdistricts in
the capital city a couple of weeks ago, killing at least 10
people.

The floods, which washed away 200 houses and destroyed 200
other buildings, inflicted a total of Rp 39.54 billion in
material losses.

Deputy Governor for Social Welfare R.S. Museno has said it
would take the city administration Rp 13 trillion (US$6.04
million) to replace the buildings and infrastructure destroyed by
the floods.

Radinal said yesterday that one of the main problems in
dealing with floods is cleaning the garbage out of the 13 rivers
which run through various parts of the city.

People dump 6,000 cubic meters of garbage into the capital's
biggest river, the Ciliwung, every day, he said. "The garbage is
clogging up the rivers."

On Jan. 7, the flooding occurred when 8, 500 cubic meters of
water per second flowed through the city's waterways, he said.

While the western waterways could accommodate 290 cubic meters
of water per second, and the other canals could accommodate only
50 cubic meters of water per second. "The water which could not
be accommodated by the waterways spilled over into the
residential areas," he said.

Radinal explained that the government had planned to build
waterways as part of the eastern flood control system, but the
construction had yet to start due to land appropriation problems.

"We have to spend about Rp 1.3 trillion for land
appropriation, while the construction will cost just about Rp 500
billion," the minister said.

He said that other steps to prevent major floods will include
the interconnection of the 13 rivers which flow through the city.

"We are still undertaking the feasibility study for the
project which will connect the Dadap, Tanjungan, Muara Karang,
Ancol and Muara Angke rivers, as well as other smaller
waterways."

Radinal said his office will also apply a method called the
hydraulic flushing system to dredge a number of river mouths.
(icn)