Jakarta should restore water catchment areas

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As part of the effort to resolve the annual flood problem in the capital, the city administration should give priority to restoring those water catchment areas which have disappeared due to their conversion to other functions, say city planning experts.

Wahyudi Wisaksono of Trisakti University said that ideally the city should allocate 25 percent of its land area for water catchment, which is very important for accommodating water falling during the rainy season.

"Because of continuous conversion of water catchment areas to other functions, water catchment areas in our city now only account for around 15 percent of the Jakarta land area," said Wahyudi, an expert on environmental technology and landscape architecture on Saturday.

Water catchment areas could take the form of open green areas, squares, parks and greenbelts in the 67,000-hectare city.

According to Wahyudi, many water catchment areas in the capital have been converted to various other functions, such as fuel stations, residential areas and commercial centers.

Separately, the head of the city planning agency, Safrudin Kanani, admitted that there were many water catchment areas whose functions had been changed. He gave as an example the fact that around 15 greenbelt sites in Jakarta were being used as fuel stations.

One of them, located right under the Semanggi bridge, is owned by Taufik Kiemas, husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Instead of immediately ordering the restoration of such water catchment areas, Safrudin said that the administration would only do so after the contract with the businessmen in question had expired.

Meanwhile, city architect Marco Kusumawijaya stressed that lack of commitment from the Jakarta city administration was the reason why many green areas in Jakarta, which should have been preserved as water catchment areas, had been converted to other functions.

"They have drafted a city plan, but they always violate it. Because of their inconsistency, the situation is becoming worse and worse," Marco told The Jakarta Post on Saturday, adding that such inconsistencies arose because of corrupt bureaucrats who were easily lobbied by businessmen.

He cited the Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) luxury housing complex in North Jakarta as an example of serious violation of the 1985- 2005 city plan as in the plan it was stated that the area should be reserved for mangrove forests.

Marco said that the city administration should begin formulating a long-term plan for comprehensively resolving the annual flood problem in the city.

The public's support, according to Marco, was the key to the success of any plan made by the city administration. Therefore, strong leadership involving popular participation was necessary.

"Policies will be successful if the people voluntarily support them. People, for example, will not dump garbage in the rivers or people will not extend their houses by violating what has been stated in the their permits as they will know what the consequences are," he added.