Editorial: Wake up, Minister Djoko

Sat, 05/03/2008 11:14 AM  |  Opinion

We don't know what was on the mind of Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto when he announced his ideas on the creation of sustainable cities in confronting the worsening climate and the rapidly growing urban population. But perhaps he himself realized his ideas were too utopian, which is why he had one of his staff read his thoughts at a seminar on sustainable cities, in Jakarta recently.

As quoted by this newspaper in Wednesday's edition, the minister said Indonesia should shift the paradigm of urban development from "problem and incident driven" to a "coherent, holistic and consolidated approach -- sustainability driven".

It looks great on paper, but the country's situation will not change with just a few fancy words.

Let us look at the situation in Jakarta, where we often feel choked by the harsh facts of daily life.

Congested roads are common during rush hour; floods displace tens of thousands of people every rainy season; water shortages affect many residents every dry season; and heavy pollution causes a panoply of contagious diseases.

The capital's chaotic transportation system has reached emergency levels due to the increasing number of vehicles running on streets. Urban travelers rely too much on private vehicles because of the poor condition of public transportation.

Improving public transportation is the only way to fix these problems, because it would not only ease traffic congestion but also address air pollution in the city. Transportation is the main source of the pollution.

While waiting for the development of alternative public transportation modes -- subway, monorail, more busway corridors -- the city must immediately deploy adequate numbers of buses along the 10 existing busway corridors to allow them to operate to full potential.

Another issue requiring immediate action is water shortages. More residents suffer from water shortages every dry season because tap water operators are unable to get adequate supplies of raw water due to unsustainable water resources. Currently, they rely on water from Jatiluhur Dam in West Java.

Jakarta has to find more sustainable water sources for the daily needs of residents. This includes the possibility of recycling river water, although operators say it is currently too costly to treat heavily polluted river water and make it potable.

The problem is that the city has failed to conserve its groundwater, through over-exploitation and the large-scale conversion of catchment areas into housing developments, commercial areas and other urban facilities.

The city is having difficulty meeting its target of developing green space to cover some 13.94 percent of the city's total territory of 650 square kilometers by 2010. Governor Fauzi will have to work hard to meet the target because the existing figure is only some 9 percent.

More green space in the city will help water conservation, which will also help to ease annual flooding, as well as addressing air pollution.

Easing the severe impact of flooding is urgent because tens of thousands are forced from their homes each year by floods. All flood mitigation projects, like the construction of the East Flood Canal, river dredging and relocation of riverbank squatters, should be a priority of the city administration.

However, it not fair for all these burdens to fall solely on the shoulders of the city administration. The role of the central government is not only to help resolve existing problems, but also to create more opportunities in other regions to curb the inflow of people into the capital.

Minister Djoko Kirmanto has come up with his own ideas for improving cities in Indonesia. But what we need from the minister are not just great ideas, but workable plans.

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