Officials evade onus for toll road flood
Bambang Nurbianto and Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Puncak
Government officials have been trying to wash hands of the flooding that submerged parts of the Prof. Sedyatmo toll road leading to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport earlier this week by attributing the incident to nature and other causes.
Resettlement and Infrastructure Minister Soenarno on Wednesday laid the blame on the developers of Pantai Indah Kapuk, a luxury housing complex which, he said, failed to meet their pledge to construct a reservoir system.
"The developer promised in its agreement with the Jakarta administration to construct a reservoir to pump out any water that might flood the toll road," said Soenarno while surveying the damage Tuesday night.
He added that flooding on the toll road could not be fully solved before the drainage system being constructed by toll road operator PT Jasa Marga is finished in 2003. In the long term, the toll road will also be increased by up to 1.5 meters.
When inspecting the toll road section Tuesday afternoon, Governor Sutiyoso claimed PT Jasa Marga must be held responsible for the flooding and, in response, increase the road surface.
Head of Jakarta Public Works Agency, IGK Suena, meanwhile, pointed the finger at mother nature, saying the incident was due to five-year-cycle leading to a heavy rainfall. He said a high tide also caused the increase of the sea level.
The two-day deluge on Monday and Tuesday had flooded the toll road under a full meter of water, halting around 100,000 people heading to and from the airport. The incident caused the delay of 10 local and international flights.
As far back as 1992, experts had predicted that developing Pantai Indah Kapuk housing complex would cause the level of the toll road to drop. The forecast proved accurate last year when the road's surface sank by about 90 centimeters.
Before the Rp 6 trillion (US$577 million) housing complex was built in early 1990s, environmental activists had warned the government not to issue permits for the development. They projected negative environmental impacts.
But government agencies ignored the warnings, and issued permits for the project to go forward.
A permit to convert a mangrove forest into housing was issued by former forest minister Hasjrul Harahap, while a permit for project development was issued by former Jakarta governor Wiyogo Atmodarminto.
However, head of the Jakarta City Environmental Agency, Kosasih Wirahadikusumah, defended the developing company -- jointly owned by tycoons Ciputra and Sudono Salim, close cronies of former president Soeharto.
Kosasih said previous research had asserted any cause of flooding would not lie with the housing complex.
"The complex is in the north part of the toll road, while the water came from the south part of the road after the residents broke the dike," he said, the development of the housing complex, he added, had passed careful survey.
One well-placed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said executives of the developer of the Pantai Indah Kapuk housing complex had met with officials of the City Public Works Agency to discuss the problems.
The meeting, said the source, ended with a dinner at a restaurant near Millennium Hotel, Central Jakarta. Suena confirmed the meeting took place, but stressed that no deal was agreed upon there.