Jakarta faces floods, fires, storms -- and prepares for more

Jakarta faces floods, fires, storms -- and prepares for more

By Yoko N. Sari and Ati Nurbaiti

JAKARTA (JP): Torrents have been pouring on Jakarta since
early October and once again, the capital city is facing its
annual disaster -- floods.

Throughout the year, city officials were questioned about
preparations to avoid a repetition of the floods early this year.
Thirty residents were killed in floods during January and
February.

Thousands of families were forced to flee their homes, and
traffic was in gridlock everywhere.

Hundreds of thousands of telephone lines were disrupted.
Official estimates of losses reached Rp 90 billion (US$37.8
million)

Officials said they were doing all they could to prevent a
repetition of this year's floods.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency had revealed rain levels
in December and January would reach 300 millimeters per day,
while normally it was only between 90 to 150 millimeters per day.

Can the public expect the city to be more prepared for floods?

The answer is no. Governor Surjadi Soedirdja admitted the
city's flood prevention program could not yet free the city of
floods.

Nevertheless, losses could have been minimized if the
government was serious about implementing plans.

Following the floods in January and February, all related city
offices decided they would start flood prevention projects. All
parties said this was their top priority.

The National Development Planning Board then allocated Rp 12
billion (US$5.4 million) from the 1996/1997 budget for flood
control projects in Greater Jakarta.

The fund was for dredging, enlarging and cleaning the city's
13 rubbish-filled rivers. The funds were also to support plans to
remove riverbank squatters.

The city's public works agency was held responsible to widen
the rivers of Cideng, Grogol, Angke Bawah, Ciliwung-Gunung Sahari
and Ciliwung-Kota in West Jakarta. It also had to widen the
Sentiong-Pademangan Timur and Kali Mati-Pademangan in North
Jakarta, besides the Jelangkeng, Cipinang, Cakung Lama, Kali
Mati-Pademangan Barat and Ancol rivers from East to North
Jakarta.

The total cost of the project, which began in August, was Rp
15 billion, allotted from the city budget.

Meanwhile, the Ciliwung-Cisadane project office under the
Ministry of Public Works had dredged the Angke, Muara Karang,
Sunter and Ciliwung rivers, removing 625,000 cubic meters of mud.

However, the project is not yet completed.

A councilor, Saud Rahman of the council's Commission D for
development affairs, blamed red tape in withdrawing funds.
Despite the urgency of the project, it began in late July.

"I can't believe it took five months from March to start the
project," Saud said.

Saud said both red tape and a lack of priority on flood
projects was the reason behind the government's failure to
complete the Eastern flood canal in East Jakarta. Meanwhile,
residents could be expected to demand higher compensation along
with rising land value.

"The canal could have been built years ago, when it was still
affordable," Saud said, noting the project's current cost was
over Rp 1 trillion.

The municipality has given several reasons why it failed to
deal with floods. One is geographical: Geologists say 40 percent
of the city's 6,500 square kilometer area is on low land. More
than 100 sites are said to be flood-prone.

A second reason is the trashed-filled rivers. The governor
repeatedly pleaded with the public against dumping garbage in
rivers. He also said residents should refrain from living along
riverbanks.

But what has been equally difficult to control is construction
by large-scale developers. The Director General of Water
Resources Development at the Ministry of Public Works,
Soeparmono, pointed out the need for political support to control
construction in the river basin area.

Following this year's floods, the National Development
Planning Board, the state minister of environment and the
prosecutor's office announced their support to local authorities
at the Puncak Mountain Resort in West Jakarta.

This was to curb excessive building in and around Puncak,
blamed for limiting the run-off capacity of the rivers flowing
from the resort to the city.

But Soeparmono said the area further down the river basin with
larger run-off potential had lacked attention, and this is where
developers are now heading. The areas include Depok and Sentul.

Environmentalists said one of the ways the flood threat could
be reduced was if developers create or maintain a balanced
portion of open areas and lakes to absorb run-off.

At least the Bogor regency has now incorporated several
obligations to preserve water catchment areas in requirements for
building permits. Also, officials have voiced increasing support
for an integrated authority to prevent problems, at least in
Greater Jakarta.

But, as pointed out in an international conference on Asian
cities, it is the private sector which has more control over city
planning. Administrations strive to attract and please investors,
to support the national priority of high economic growth.

For the sake of residents, the city and West Java
administrations must decide now where their priorities lie.

Otherwise, the flood prevention programs will never be able to
catch up with rapid development along the river basin.

Fires and storm

Meanwhile, Jakartans face other disasters. Residents became
refugees in their own city as at least 26,000 lost homes in
fires. Most of the time, they were not allowed to rebuild homes.

As if this was not sad enough, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute
highlighted widespread doubts that the estimated 700 fires were
all accidents.

The institute's annual report said many of the fires raised
suspicions of arson because several of the sites in slum areas
were to be vacated. Residents said they had never been approached
civilly about the plans and compensation. Fires broke out before
a consensus was reached.

The accusation was similar to previous years, as lack of
dialog heightened distrust of authorities.

Fire department officials said the department could only
remind people, both in slums and posh buildings, to protect
themselves.

On fires in buildings, the officials said they could not
detect possible changes in building plans, which affect a
building's fire safety system.

Not long after the fire which killed 10 employees at a Bogor
market in March, a member of the city's architect organization,
Boy Birawa, acknowledged architects have no control over a
building owners' whims. He said owners might have building plans
changed after a building permit is issued.

Authorities declined to comment on the possibility of bribes
in the issuance of permits.

A representative from the fire department, Johny Pangaribuan,
also said police were slow in revealing investigation results of
what caused the fires.

This year may also be the first, at least in recent records,
in which strong winds led to casualties. On Dec. 15, a man was
killed when a billboard in East Jakarta collapsed. On the same
day, three others were killed when the antenna of a private radio
station broke. This raised questions as to who should be held
responsible.

A former chairman of the Indonesian Association of Advertising
Agencies, Koes Poedjianto, said the responsibility of the
billboard accident lay with the contractor which built it. He
said government agencies which issued permits for the billboard
should also be held responsible.

Strong winds are still expected through February, due to
tropical storms, according to weather reports.