Sutiyoso blames residents for worsening floods

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Accused of mishandling the floods that swept through the city earlier this year, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso shifted the blame on Friday by accusing residents of worsening the flood problem by dumping garbage into rivers.

"The rivers have narrowed because people dump their trash into them. This has worsened the flood problem," Sutiyoso said during a visit to the West Flood Canal gate in Manggarai, South Jakarta.

He said residents living along riverbanks dumped at least 800 cubic meters of garbage per day into the city's 13 rivers.

He said Jakarta, which produces 25,000 cubic meters of garbage per day, would be unable to deal with the flood problem if residents did not change their habits.

"It would be useless to spend huge amounts of money to dredge the rivers if residents continue to dump their garbage into the rivers. We should educate the public not to dump their trash into the rivers," Sutiyoso said.

The administration plans to allocate Rp 13 billion to finance flood alleviation programs, which will include dredging the Krukut River and West Flood Canal, which crosses Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta.

The money will also be used to dredge parts of the Ciliwung River along Jl. Diponegoro as far as Kwitang, Central Jakarta, and the Cideng River, also in Central Jakarta.

While the governor blames residents for tossing their trash into rivers, critics point out that the administration does not ensure proper garbage collection in many neighborhoods.

Tons of garbage recently removed from the rivers and piled along the riverbanks has yet to be transported to the Bantar Gebang dump.

The City Public Works Agency, which is in charge of river dredging, blamed the City Sanitation Agency for failing to collect the garbage. The sanitation agency said it was the public works agency's responsibility to complete its job and take care of the trash.

This is not the first time Sutiyoso has tried to lay blame for the flooding on parties other than his administration. In February, he said it was nature's fault that much of the city found itself under water.

After the massive flooding, the administration allocated at least Rp 225 billion in the 2002 city budget for flood prevention programs.

However, the money was only enough to alleviate flooding in five flood-prone areas of the city, leaving some 73 more areas to help themselves as best they could.

According to the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, the peak of the rainy season will occur between the second half of January and February of next year.

The administration has repeatedly said it is unable to prevent future flooding because of a lack of money to build the East Flood Canal, which would cost more than Rp 7 trillion to construct.

Sutiyoso reiterated on Friday that the city's lack of funds had halted the planned development of the East Flood Canal. And the central government, which was expected to finance the project, has failed to meet its commitment to the project.

"We hoped the central government could help finance the project but, until now, it is still uncertain when they will disburse the funds," the governor said.

Separately, the City Public Works Agency head, IGKG. Suena, said on Friday the administration would allocate Rp 50 billion in the 2003 budget for land appropriation for the 23-kilometer East Flood Canal.

"Although the funds from the central government are still uncertain, we will still allocate money for the canal," Suena told The Jakarta Post.

Last year, the administration spent a similar amount of money to appropriate about 20 hectares of the 230 hectares needed for the canal.