Jakarta to use sheet piling to wall rivers, despite opposition

The Jakarta Post, 13 Oct 2015


Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has said that his administration will continue to use sheet piles as walls for rivers because the technology has been widely used by experts constructing river walls in other cities around the world.

He was responding to criticism from environmentalists who claim that constructing river walls with sheet piles is not environmentally friendly. The group called on the Jakarta city administration to use a more natural method for constructing the river walls.

Ahok said at City Hall on Tuesday that most rivers in Jakarta needed sheet piles for their walls, though certain rivers like Ciliwung upstream area in Cijantung, East Jakarta, may not use the technology.

Ahok referred to the work of experts and government officials from many countries who attended the C40 Connecting Delta Cities Network Workshop in Jakarta from Nov. 12 to 15. The workshop participants came from New York, New Orleans, London, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Venice, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Melbourne.

Sudirman Asun of the Ciliwung Institute said sheet piling had been proven to be ineffective in mitigating floods in many advanced countries and was concerned that the city administration and the central government still used the method in Jakarta.

Sudirman said that environmental activists were now challenging the sheet-piling project at the Jakarta State Administrative Court.



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