Ministry of Public Works Acknowledges Embankments Cannot Prevent Flooding Entirely

The government has clarified that embankment construction along several major rivers in the Jabodetabek region cannot completely eliminate flooding. Embankment infrastructure serves only to reduce flood risk and impact in the face of increasingly severe weather conditions.

David Partonggo Oloan Marpaung, Head of the Ciliwung Cisadane River Basin Authority at the Ministry of Public Works, stated that embankment construction is designed to increase river capacity to handle large water discharge. “The construction of embankments, once completed, will certainly reduce the potential for flooding,” David said during a CNBC Indonesia infrastructure focus session on Monday, 9 March 2026.

However, he emphasised that flooding cannot be entirely eliminated because weather conditions and rainfall patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable. “But flooding cannot be completely eliminated. This means embankments are constructed for a specific return period, whilst rainfall could exceed the designed capacity,” he explained.

David outlined that flood control infrastructure has specific limitations in its capacity to withstand water discharge. “For example, an embankment might be designed to accommodate daily rainfall of around 200 millimetres, but we cannot predict if rainfall exceeds that amount,” he noted.

He cited several instances of extreme rainfall that have occurred in Indonesia in recent years. “In March 2025, flooding around the Ciliwung region recorded rainfall exceeding 200 millimetres in its upper reaches,” he stated.

Additionally, he referenced a major flood event that occurred in the Jakarta area several years prior. “If we recall, in Halim in 2020, rainfall was recorded at over 300 millimetres in a single day,” David said.

Extreme rainfall phenomena have also occurred in other regions of Indonesia, indicating that weather patterns are becoming increasingly difficult to predict. “In Aceh recently, there was rainfall of approximately 380 millimetres in a single day—a figure never previously recorded,” he noted.

For this reason, he believed that embankment construction must be accompanied by other mitigation measures to make flood control more effective. “We must remain confident in embankment construction, but we must also be prepared for its limitations,” David concluded.