Residents living in close proximity to the city’s many waterways have called on the government to help them reinforce weakened dikes that are threatening to burst.
A deputy community unit head and a pump caretaker from Pluit subdistrict, North Jakarta, Yusuf, said Monday the Kali Adem dike wall in his neighborhood had sprung a number of leaks.
“The ground surface keeps sinking and some parts of the dike wall have cracked. I’m worried the dike might collapse and we will be hit by flood,” he said.
He said that last year he asked the central government to provide funds for new foundations so the community could build a stronger dike, but the request had not yet been approved.
“We built this dike with our own money, we only asked the government to help us with new foundations because they are too expensive for us,” Yusuf said.
However, the subdistrict deputy chairman, Tahta Yujang, said the dike was still in a good condition and did not need any immediate repairs.
He said the dike was monitored every night by his office, residents, and the district office.
“The residents may of course ask for the repairs, however, we and other higher bodies will decide whether they are necessary,” Tahta said.
The residents’ requests have to pass several institutions from the subdistrict and the district offices to the municipal office, which then passes them on to the governor and finally the Public Works Ministry.
As part of flood mitigation efforts earlier this year, the subdistrict office planted 300 trees near the dike.
Kali Adem is slated to be part of a joint river-dredging project between the city and the World Bank in 2012, which involves the demolition of hundreds of existing dwellings.
The US$150 million project is expected to restore drainage systems at 15 sites, relieving more than 1 million residents affected by seasonal floods.
A community unit head at Penjaringan subdistrict, North Jakarta, Bastara, also complained about the Koja dike in his neighborhood.
“The dike is subject to tidal forces. Until it is rebuilt as a permanent wall, we will continue to worry,”
he said.
The Koja dike, which is under the management of state seaport operator PT Pelindo II, has been temporarily reinforced with sandbags and stones.
Bastara said he coordinated with Pelindo to monitor the condition of the dike, adding that it had a number of leaks, which had been patched by the company.
Abdullah, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said the area was subject to regular floods. The worst flood he could remember, he added, was when part of the dike collapsed six months ago.
“I just want to live free from floods,” the porter, said.
The Public Works Ministry’s Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office (BBWSCC) river works coordinator, Bastari, said the government had limited funding for the maintenance of all dikes in Jakarta .
“We need a lot of money to rebuild a permanent dike,” Bastari said.
He previously said that each meter of each dike wall would require between Rp 10 million ($1,100) and Rp 15 million to repair.
Besides the funding problem, he said, it was not easy to relocate residents to build dikes.
Concerns over the condition of Jakarta’s dikes have emerged since the collapse of the Pesanggrahan dike last week, causing a 3-meter deep flood that affected thousands of Bintaro residents. (not)
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|