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.