Flooding in Jakarta inavoidable: City official

Flooding in Jakarta inavoidable: City official

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta cannot avoid being flooded as 40 percent of the city
is on low-lying land, a senior official of the city
administration said here on Friday.

"We can only minimize the negative impacts by improving all
facilities that deal with floodwater," said IGKG Suena, chairman
of the city's public works agency.

He said that another contributory factor was the low level of
awareness among residents about environmental conservation. Along
Jakarta's 13 riverbanks for example, people continue to erect
buildings, reducing the channels' capacity to hold water. "That's
why, when incessant rainwater hits Jakarta, floods always
follow," he said.

Suena said the known areas prone to flooding, which still
totaled 80 in January, had been reduced to 78. The areas which
are no longer considered flood-prone are IKPN Bintaro, South
Jakarta and Bimoli intersection, Pluit, North Jakarta, he said.

He added that at Bintaro the agency had built a dam to hold
back the floodwater, and in Pluit it had constructed a floodwater
diversion facility, which channeled the Ancol river's overflow to
the sea at Ancol beach.

He said that every year the city's public works department
spent about Rp 20 billion (US$2 million) in its attempts to
minimize the impact of flooding in Jakarta. The funds, among
other things, were spent on dredging rivers, improvements to the
drainage system and water-control systems in the 13 rivers that
flowed through the capital.

Data from the city's public works agency shows that of the 78
flood-prone spots in Jakarta, 22 are in North Jakarta, 18 in
South Jakarta, 17 in West Jakarta, 12 in East Jakarta and nine in
Central Jakarta.

The flood-prone spots in Central Jakarta include Mangga Dua,
Mangga Besar and Cempaka Putih; in North Jakarta they are
Pademangan, Rawa Badak and Sunter Jaya; in West Jakarta
Kemandoran, Meruya and Jelambar; in South Jakarta Poncol, Bukit
Duri and Rawajati; and in East Jakarta Kampung Rambutan, Kebon
Pala, Kampung Melayu.

Meanwhile, the agency's maintenance division chief Wishnu S.
Yusuf said it would build two more water pump facilities to
reduce flooding in the Cempaka Putih and Sumur Batu areas of
Central Jakarta and Pasar Jum'at in South Jakarta.

Wishnu said the agency needed Rp 50 billion to build a water
pump facility, which would include the cost of the pump and of
acquiring the necessary land.

"Sometimes land acquisition is difficult, as residents seek
compensation at three times the market price," he told The
Jakarta Post.