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Ciliwung plight blamed on land conversion
River cruisers: A group of students uses a boat service to cross the Ciliwung River in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta
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River cruisers: A group of students uses a boat service to cross the Ciliwung River in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta. JP/P.J. Leo
A ministerial visit to Puncak in Bogor on Monday concluded the upstream area of Ciliwung river was heavily polluted.
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar highlighted that the quality of water along the Ciliwung watershed had degraded due to domestic and industrial waste pollution.
“We are facing two problems: decreasing conservation zones and degrading quality of water,” Rahmat said.
The water debit in Ciliwung, which has also increased in the period between the dry and rainy season, is causing floods in the river’s downstream areas, Rachmat added.
According to a 2008 survey of Ciliwung River water quality, the upstream areas from Bogor were declared “heavily polluted”, while conditions were far worse in Jakarta’s downstream areas categorized as “very heavily polluted”.
The government has urged stakeholders to synchronize management of the upstream and downstream reaches of the Ciliwung River in order to improve its quality.
The conversion of Puncak area in residential area was partly the responsibility of Bogor regency administration, Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban said during the visit.
“The administration has made it too easy for people to obtain land use permits in Puncak,” he said.
He pointed the finger toward Puncak residents illegally using conservation zones in the area, including protected forests.
Puncak is a designated water catchment area that plays a vital role in protecting Jakarta from flooding. The Ciliwung River, originating in Puncak, passes through Bogor regency in Bogor municipality, Depok and ends up in North Jakarta.
The 1999 presidential decree on spatial planning stipulates that certain areas in Puncak must be free of buildings, while other areas can have buildings of up to 10 percent of the land surface.
However, many property owners have violated the decree by constructing villas and houses in building-free zones.
Rapid development in Puncak has vastly decreased the area of conservation and increased the building zones over the last several years, Rachmat said.
Satellite imaging analysis conducted from 2000 to 2008 shows a significant decrease in the width of forested area in Puncak.
In 2000, 4,918 hectares or around 9.43 percent of the total area of Puncak consisted of forests. This area shrank to 4,162 hectares in 2005, then 1,665 hectares in 2007 and 1,265 hectares last year.
Meanwhile, the width of areas developed into housing complexes soared from 24,833 hectares or 47.6 percent of the total land area of Puncak in 2000, to 31,580 hectares in 2005, then 33,395 hectares in 2007, and 35,750 hectares, or 68.5 percent last year.
