Joko Says More Still Needs to Be Done to Stop Floods

The Jakarta Globe, January 10, 2014.


Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo has conceded that his administration’s flood-prevention efforts are still lacking as highlighted by Wednesday’s downpour when rainwater inundated several parts of the capital.

Joko said the city was still in the process of dredging and normalizing rivers in an effort to minimize the effects of the rainy season.

“It is true that we have dredged, or normalized, rivers and dams and it’s still ongoing. If we take a look at yesterday’s rains, rivers can already accommodate more rainwater and so can the Pluit dam,” Joko said at City Hall on Thursday.

He said that aside from dredging major rivers, the Jakarta administration has also dredged smaller rivers. But out of 884 small rivers in Jakarta, only 160 have so far been done. The remainder will be dredged gradually over the next years, he said.

“Culverts are also in the same condition, still covered by sediment that blocks water from dispersing effectively. This has contributed to the flooding of several roads during heavy rainfall. That’s why I ask the people of Jakarta to be patient; we’re solving the problem of flooding gradually,” he said.

The city administration has accelerated the installation of infiltration wells across the capital. So far Jakarta only has around 1,900 of these wells, compared to a target of 2 million.

Although it was still far from the target, Joko said the infiltration wells were already proving to be quite effective in preventing water from accumulating in those areas.

“But the number is still insufficient to completely eliminate flooding,” he said.

Joko said the efforts made by the city administration would be pointless, no matter how hard it worked, if the public did not support the development of the upstream areas.

“All development in the upstream areas has to be conducted integrally. There is the central government, and others, but if the people don’t want to cooperate, it’s pointless because Jakarta would still be flooded,” he said.

Meanwhile, the weather modification team from the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) was ready to redistribute rain and to make artificial rain to preempt flood disasters.

Florentinus Heru Widodo, technical head of BPPT’s artificial rain unit, said his team has made preparations and developed a new method in seeding clouds for rain modification.

“The team is ready, but the decision to carry out the rain redistribution lies in the hands of the Jakarta administration. The Jakarta administration has not issued an emergency status yet,” Florentinus said in Jakarta on Tuesday evening.

He added that this had prevented the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) from disbursing the budget.

Florentinus said rain redistribution was useful in minimizing the flood potential in the capital during the rainy season.

The BPPT has this year also secured contracts from the West Sumatra office of state electricity company PLN to fill up the dams of Koto Panjang, Riau, and Danau Singkarak, West Sumatra, in April. Both dams support hydroelectric projects.

The agency also has a contract for the same purpose with PLN’s office in South Kalimantan.

Florentinus said the Riau and Central and West Kalimantan administrations have also asked the agency to help prevent forest fires during the next dry season.



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