Poor land-use plan causes floods: Offical

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the rainy weather sets in again, Jakartans have to live with its impact: floods. The annual deluge has been a problem for years and will probably still be one in the future.

Governor Sutiyoso has repeatedly cited a shortage of funds and blamed the topographic and climatic conditions in the city for the government's inability to tackle the problem. However, an expert said that corrupt bureaucracy played a great role in the devastating floods.

"Floods in Jakarta cannot be isolated from various complex problems, especially a bad master land-use plan and its poor implementation due to the corrupt bureaucracy in the city administration," city and regional planning expert, Bhenyamin Hoessen, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Bhenyamin, who is also head of the postgraduate program for administrative affairs at the University of Indonesia, said that many development projects in the city violated the master plan.

Many buildings and other projects constructed were not in line with the city master plan; greenbelt areas have changed their function and have been made into business areas; and many factories and businesses have been built in residential areas.

"This occurred because bureaucrats have readily issued construction permits for buildings in areas which were not in line with the city plan as they received huge bribes," Bhenyamin said.

Citing one example, he named the development of Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) exclusive residential complex in North Jakarta, that was believed to cause the frequent flooding at the nearby toll road heading to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

"If public interests continue to be put aside in favor of bureaucrats' personal interests, city problems will never be solved."

Bhenyamin also criticized non-governmental organization' (NGOs) activists who frequently protected people that violated the city plan by building houses in greenbelt areas or other prohibited areas.

"The bureaucrats, who have issued permits have violated the city plan, and the people, who build houses in prohibited areas, are targets for law enforcement that should be implemented firmly."

With the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) forecasting more heavy rains for Thursday and without contingency plans from the administration, except rubber dinghies to evacuate flood victims, many Jakartans have no other option but to live with the floods.

Chairman of the City Council Commission D, responsible for development affairs, Sayogo Hendrosubroto said a comprehensive solution to the flood problem must be found alongside other problems in the city.

"The deluge that affected over 100 areas in Jakarta on Monday was due to garbage that clogged the drainage system in those areas. Therefore, the administration must solve the problems of garbage and flooding side by side."

Bimo Hastoro, another city councillor of Commission D, said the administration did not give priority to flood control as it had only allocated Rp 294 billion (US$28.27 million) in the proposed 2002 budget. The figure is slightly higher than last year's Rp 290 billion.

Sutiyoso has frequently claimed his administration would not be able to resolve the flood problem in the near future due to a shortage of finances and the fact that many areas in the capital lay below sea level.

The administration plans to improve the 11-kilometer East Flood Canal and build a 23-kilometer West Flood Canal to ease the flood problem. Head of Public Works (PU) Office Suena did not specify the total budget needed for the construction but only said that for land acquisition, the administration would need Rp 1.2 trillion.