Houses on stilts recommended to conquer flooding
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While the Jakarta administration has been in the process of clearing some riverbanks of squatters, who have been partially blamed for the annual flooding in the capital, an environmentalist suggested that they build the squatters houses on stilts.
Rudy P. Tambunan stated in a dissertation for his doctoral degree that instead of evicting so many people, which could cause social unrest as has been the case over the last several years, "adapting to the flood is a better alternative".
"Of course, the city administration should conduct a study to be able to determine which areas are feasible for residential housing and those that need to be totally cleared," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of his promotional ceremony as a doctor from the University of Indonesia in Salemba, Central Jakarta, on Saturday.
Jakarta has 78 flood-prone areas along the banks of 13 rivers that flow through its five municipalities.
Flooding has become an annual occurrence in the city during the wet season, with 40 percent of Jakarta at or below sea level and an outdated, ineffective drainage system.
The city suffered its worst flood in decades in 2002, which paralyzed two-thirds of the capital, killed 31 people and forced 300,000 residents to leave their homes for temporary shelters.
In his research, Tambunan found that over half of the 78 flood-prone areas could still be maintained as residential housing areas with some adjustments.
"For example, residents in flood-prone areas should place their belongings on the upper level of their house and use their lower level rooms as places to receive guests," he deduced in his dissertation.
While quoting Ridwan Saidi, an expert on Betawi -- native Jakartan -- cultures, Tambunan said that houses on stilts had been adopted by earlier residents living along riverbanks and beaches in Jakarta during the era of Dutch colonial rule.
In his dissertation, Tambunan also proposed that the new city spatial plan should exclude river floodplains as areas from development projects so there will be more water catchment areas in the city.
He found that over 75 percent of the floodplains along the 13 city rivers had been occupied by buildings -- houses, offices and malls -- as the current spatial plan failed to protect those areas.
He argued that by designating the floodplains off limits for construction, it would be one of three ways to deal with flooding, in addition to providing flood-prevention facilities, such as better canals and drainage ditches, and relocating residents that live in the flood-prone areas.
"Constructing more efficient drainage systems can be costly, and it can be even more costly to relocate people as the government must provide land and homes for thousands of people. That is why the flood plains should be protected but could have houses on stilts," Tambunan remarked.
The city administration has long planned to build new canals to control five of the 13 rivers flowing through eastern Jakarta to help stop the flooding. However, the construction of the major East Flood canal has been held up, reportedly due to land acquisition problems.
The only flood-control canal the city has is the West Flood Canal, which was built by the Dutch administration several decades ago to ease flooding in the western part of the city. Most segments of the canal, however, have narrowed considerably and become silted up as thousands of squatters occupy its banks.