Jakarta seeks money in wake of floods for canal project

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Governor Sutiyoso said on Friday that the clearance of land for the East Flood Canal project should be completed this year although the fund allocation for the project, which was earlier promised by the central government, was still unclear.

"We should complete the land clearance this year. We hope the construction could start next year," Sutiyoso told reporters at the City Hall.

The development of the 23-kilometer canal will apparently require some Rp 12 trillion (US$1.2 billion), including Rp 1.3 trillion for the 230 hectares of land that must be purchased and cleared.

The governor said the funding for the project would be partly derived from the city's Rp 505 billion emergency fund this year, but he hoped the central government would also contribute to the financing.

He said that his administration would soon send a letter to the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure to ask for its commitment to finance the project.

"We will formally request a commitment from the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure in a letter, so that it's not just talk," Sutiyoso said.

Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno earlier promised to help finance the project, but the ministry's commitment was later reported to be unclear.

During a meeting at City Hall last week, Soenarno claimed that as much as Rp 16 trillion was needed to finance the canal as well as "the normalization program of rivers" to reduce flooding.

The City Council has agreed in principle with the administration's proposal to use the emergency fund for the project.

Responding to a call from observers that the central government should not disburse any funds for the project before it was clearly planned, Sutiyoso claimed that his administration had made a complete plan for the canal.

He said it had set up a special team led by Deputy Governor for Development Affairs Budihardjo Sukmadi to make a development plan of the canal.

The central government hired an Amsterdam-based consulting group, Nedeco, in 1976 to design the canal, but it was never acted upon. It remains unclear whether the city would again seek advice from Nedeco.