Residents demand work on lake

TANGERANG: The Tangerang regional administration needed to do something quickly about the silting Lake Tujuh Muara before more homes were flooded, residents said.

Hundreds of villagers said conservation work on the lake, which was silting up and had shrunk to under half its size, was urgent.

The lake in the Pamulang district is surrounded by three villages -- Pondok Benda, Pondok Baru and Pamulang Barat.

"The width of the lake used to be 31.4 hectares but now its only 12.7 hectares," Aca Sugandi, chairman of the Lake Tujuh Muara Conservation Committee (Kompas), told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Aca said the silting had worsened floods in the Reni Jaya, Vila Pamulang, and Witana Harja residential areas, and in Pondok Benda village. -- JP