Minister: Jakarta’s Flood is Everyone’s Responsibility

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono responds to reporters’ questions after attending a Limited Meeting, at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/2). (Photo by: Rizky/PR).

Central Government and DKI Jakarta Provincial Government share the same responsibility in addressing Jakarta’s flood, according to Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono.

“Since Jakarta is the capital city, it becomes everyone’s responsibility. However, the works (between the Central and Provincial Governments) must not be overlapped; this is the most important thing,” Basuki told reporters after attending a Limited Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/2).

Regarding flood that hit Jakarta on Tuesday (25/2) morning, the Minister said that Manggarai sluice gate in South Jakarta and Karet sluice gate in Central Jakarta were placed under alert level 2 status, while the other sluice gates were placed under alert level 3 or 4 status.

“It seemed like the rainfall intensity is high while the capacity of water drainage (of those sluices) is smaller than the high volume of water,” he added.

The Minister went on to say that a high capacity water pump will be installed in Sentiong River. The project which took Rp600 billions of budget is expected to be completed next year and it will pump out seawater from that drainage.

In addition, the Central Government has prepared more mobile water pumps which will be handed over to DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to be managed. For the record, there are 104 pumping systems which constructions were funded by the State Budget, including in Pluit, Ancol, Melati, and Karet.

Besides Jakarta, the flood also hit Bekasi area. Therefore, the Government will also rehabilitate Bekasi River from upstream to downstream, including the construction of Narogong Dam. In this regard, Nusa Indah housing complex which is located near the Dam must be relocated.

The Minister added that the Government is ready to build an apartment building to relocate the residents.

“The Ministry has cooperated with Bogor regency administration and Bekasi City administration. Hopefully, this project can be completed in 2-3 years,” he added. (UN/EN)

Translated by : Rany Anjany
Reviewed by : Mia Medyana