The East Flood Canal, currently under construction, has been lauded as a key flood-prevention facility, but a lack of floodplains and absorption wells could undermine its effectiveness, experts say.
Indonesian Land Reclamation and Water Management Institute (ILWI) chairman Sawarendro said Wednesday the canal would only reduce the risk of flooding in a handful of areas in the eastern and northern parts of the city.
“We need to complement the canal with floodplains,” he said at a discussion on urban planning and flooding.
He added the city administration also needed to consider speeding up work on the Cengkareng Drain 2, which is supposed to channel water from the Pesanggrahan River to the Kamal River, going past Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
The East Flood Canal, which when complete will be 23.5 kilometers long and range in width from 100 to 300 meters, will channel the runoff from the six major rivers running through Greater Jakarta — the Cipinang, Sunter, Buaran, Jatikramat, Cakung and Blencong — out to sea.
Other flood-prevention facilities already in place include the West Flood Canal and the Cengkareng Drain 1.
Nirwono Joga, from the environmental NGO Green Map Jakarta, said the East Flood Canal would have limited success in stemming the widespread flooding that has become an annual occurrence in the capital.
“The Dutch colonial administration predicted the canal would only reduce flooding by 25 percent at the most,” he said.
He claimed the West Flood Canal was just as ineffective, and added the shortfall needed to be made up through the revitalizing of lakes and floodplains.
“Residents must also build absorption wells at home,” he said.
Trisakti University planology expert Yayat Supriatna said micro efforts which were engaging the residents were also playing great roles.
“The city administration should formulate a regulation on building about a million absorption wells across the city?” he said.
Heryanto, head of the West Jakarta water management sub-agency, said building new drainage systems and repairing existing ones were essential in preventing flooding in the capital.
“This year, we plan to dredge 80 channels to ease the flow of water,” he said.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|