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Jakarta Post

Residents in flood prone areas ready to be relocated

Cleaning is a never-ending chore for Linda Herawati, 25, after her home was inundated for days after the Ciliwung River overflowed onto the Rawajati district in South Jakarta

The Jakarta Post
Fri, February 1, 2013

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Residents in flood prone areas ready to be relocated

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leaning is a never-ending chore for Linda Herawati, 25, after her home was inundated for days after the Ciliwung River overflowed onto the Rawajati district in South Jakarta.

“It has been a week since the water subsided and we haven’t finished cleaning the rooms and furniture,” she said on Thursday while feeding her 7-month-old daughter.

Linda said she had enough with the flooding, especially the recent one that caused her house to sit in
4 meters of water.

“I would move if the government could assist us in finding a new place to live,” she said.

She said she was willing to live in an apartment building if it was near her husband’s workplace.

“It would be fine as long as every unit had its own bathroom and the installments were affordable as my husband is only a security officer,” she said, mentioning that an affordable price would range from
Rp 300,000 (US$31) to Rp 500,000.

Echoing Linda’s statement, a 60-year-old Penjaringan resident in North Jakarta, Darma, said that she also wanted to be relocated.

“I am tired of the floods that inundate my house every year, but I have nowhere to go,” she said.

Darma said that if the government relocated her family to an apartment, she would try to pay the installments as long as it was affordable. “But I cannot provide a down payment. I heard that people need to pay Rp 10 million to occupy the lot.”

The Jakarta administration is now planning to relocate Darma and thousands of other squatters currently living in flood prone areas, such as near the Pluit Dam in North Jakarta and the Ciliwung river bank, to low-cost apartment buildings to hinder floods.

South Jakarta Mayor Anas Efendi said in a social event initiated by Unilever Indonesia Foundation that the central government and the municipal administration would start to alter the river bank into an open green space in 2013. “When the rainy season begins, the open space will function as water catchment area,” he said.

The flood that hit the capital city on Jan. 17 was the biggest in 12 years, displacing thousands of Jakartans and killing dozens of people. The city administration estimated that total losses from the flood amounted to around Rp 20 billion.

Recently, the city geared up to relocate residents who were effected by floods to existing low-cost apartments such as in Marunda, North Jakarta, while preparing to build new ones.

The administration also provided certain facilities to attract new
tenants, including water transportation means for new residents of Marunda apartments in North Jakarta to get to their workplace in Muara Baru, some 22 kilometers from Marunda.

“We have planned to provide two boats to connect Marunda and Muara Baru,” Governor Joko Widodo told reporters at City Hall on Thursday, adding that the number of boats would be added to four in the future.

The boats, which will start in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta and make stops in Marunda, Ancol, Muara Baru and Muara Angke in North Jakarta, will be provided for free. (cor)

— JP/Sita W. Dewi

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