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.