City gets ready to face the tides

Tifa Asrianti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 05/31/2008 12:08 PM | City

In an effort to prevent tidal floods in the capital next month, the city administration and other stakeholders are raising the height of seven embankments up to 2.5 meters above Tanjung Priok ground level, officials say.

Public works agency head Wisnu Subagyo Yusuf said his agency would raise the height of embankments in Muara Angke, Pluit Karang Ayu, Pluit Dam, Pantai Mutiara, Muara Baru fishing port, Pelindo and Luar Batang, all in North Jakarta.

"Between Friday night and Saturday night, we'll add soil, sandbags and stone up to 2.5 meters at the embankments so high tides can't flow over them," Wisnu said.

Referring to data from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Wisnu predicted high tides on June 3 and 4 would reach 2.2 meters.

"We've been recording wave heights since May 25. We see the wave levels are increasing and we predict they will peak between June 3 and June 4 at 2.2 meters," he said.

To prevent flooding in the city, Wisnu said his agency would repair embankments in Muara Angke, Pluit Dam and Luar Batang with sandbags. In Pluit Karang Ayu and Pantai Mutiara, he said, residents and developers had repaired the embankment but the agency reviewed the work and added improvements.

"The embankments in Muara Baru and Pelindo will be repaired by the port operators there," he said.

He said the administration would build permanent walls on the embankments more than 3 meters above Tanjung Priok ground level.

"We're still in the middle of a tender procedure. We hope we'll be able to pick the winner in June or July so the construction can be finished by the end of December," he said.

Wisnu said his agency had prepared more than 5,000 sandbags, two excavators, 10 dump trucks and 14 mobile pumps.

The World Bank predicted Thursday high tides would peak on June 4 and hit North Jakarta's coastal areas, such as Pasar Ikan, Tanjung Priok and Pluit.

High tides as high as 2.2 meters caused flooding in the capital in November and December last year, as well as in February and May this year, resulting in traffic congestion and delayed flights as the floods blocked access to the airport toll road.

Operation director of the airport toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, Adityawarman, said it was building concrete sheet piles spanning 560 meters kilometers 26 to 27 of the Sedyatmo toll road.

"We aim to finish the project by Monday noon because it is estimated the tides will reach maximum height on Monday night," he said.

He said the company had prepared 10,000 sandbags, six-millimeter plywood planks and bamboo for any unexpected occurrences. He said his company had also prepared pumps, including 11 mobile pumps from the administration.

"We've put two pumps near Tanjungan River to pump floodwater back into the river," he said.

Besides repairing the embankments, the city administration has also prepared tents, boats and mobile public kitchens.

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