W. Jakarta pessimistic about flood mitigation

JAKARTA: West Jakarta municipality said Tuesday it would not be able to optimally ease flooding in the area due the lack of ready high-pressure water pumps.

Of its 42 pumps, only 17 are high-pressure ones with capacities between 300 cubic meters per second and 500 cubic meters per second. "The remaining 25 pumps only have medium capacities of between 100 cubic meters per second and 150 cubic meters per second," Dedi Budi Widodo, an official at the West Jakarta water control subagency, said.

"Areas prone to flooding outnumber the pumps," Dedi told news portal beritajakarta.com. He added that 40 percent of the municipality lay below sea level. -JP