With the arrival of heavy downpours showering the city over the past few days, the city administration is gearing up its preparations for the peak of the rainy season, expected to hit the city in several weeks time.
Jakarta Public Works Agency chief Budi Widiantoro said his agency had been dredging several sections of 64 sub-macro rivers since September, and expected to finish the work by Dec. 15.
"We target to clear 1.5 million cubic meters of silt from the rivers," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that the agency had allocated Rp 200 billion (US$20.8 million) to accomplish its target.
The 64 sub-macro rivers being dredged include the Duri River in West Jakarta, Utan Kayu River in Central Jakarta, Sekretaris River in South Jakarta and Cakung River in East Jakarta.
The agency had also cleared several drainage systems, including those on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta and in front of Palmerah market, Budi said.
"Almost all of the drainage systems in the city are filled with garbage or mud. The channel on Jl. Sabang, for example, is mostly filled with plastic bottles," he said.
The agency was raising two bridges that during the rainy season often become blocked with garbage dumped into rivers, he said. These were the Kalibata River bridge in South Jakarta and Jati Kramat River bridge in East Jakarta.
Budi was confident that access to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport would remain clear when the rainy season peaks, since the agency had constructed a concrete embankment along the toll road and installed pumps on the side of the Prof. Sedyatmo toll road and in the Tanjungan River area.
The agency also planned to purchase four pumps worth Rp 35 billion in total (which could pump out two cubic meters of water per second) and Rp 2.5 billion to procure seven mobile pumps that could pump 250 liters per second.
The agency has also installed pumps at two of the city's underpasses; in Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta and on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta.
Some parts of Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, may still be prone to flooding because the agency had yet to dredge the Sunter River, Budi said.
The East Flood Canal, which is set to be completed in December this year, would not help much, he said.
The administration has acquired 96.7 percent of the total 785,982 square meters of land needed in North Jakarta, and 80 percent of the 1,784,213 square meters needed in East Jakarta for the construction of the canal.
Urban planner Suryono Herlambang lauded the preparations carried out by the agency.
The administration should build small water catchment areas to contain rain water in the city center, Suryono said.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency has also been lopping branches and twigs from trees to prevent accidents.
According to the data from the agency, it pruned 1,257 trees and removed 123 dead trees on Jakarta's main thoroughfares between January and August. This number does not include pruning carried out by the subagencies in Jakarta's five municipalities.
The pruning would also be carried out on tress next to the eight Transjakarta busway corridor lanes, said Linda Mulyani, the chief of the green space division of Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency.
