Two buildings near East Flood Canal project collapse

Wed, 03/12/2008 11:47 AM  |  City

JAKARTA: A house and plywood factory next to the East Flood Canal work site collapsed Tuesday morning, Beritajakarta.com reported Tuesday. No casualties were reported in the incident.

The East Flood Canal project is 10 meters deep on average and the border between the canal and the residents' houses is narrow, barely providing a safe area for the adjacent houses.

The collapsed house, which belongs to Adi, a resident of Pondok Bambu subdistrict, was only a few centimeters away from the canal and was secured with a wood fence.

Beside Adi's house, neighboring houses also face the threat of slippage. The homeowners say they haven't moved because they haven't been able to sell their property to the city administration because of title and documentation issues. After the incident, the homeowners hope the administration will quickly buy them out.

An official at the East Jakarta municipal administration, Lukman Hakim, said his office would immediately check on the situation.

"If the cause of the delayed buy-out is incomplete documents, we'll help the residents so their land can be acquired for the (canal) project," he said, as quoted by Beritajakarta.com.- JP

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