(beritajakarta.com)

There are numerous ongoing projects, as well as those in the pipeline, designed to mitigate the capital'€™s annual curse '€” the floods. But despite the pomp and ceremony surrounding many of the plans, some remain controversial. But why let the opinions of others rule you? Here are five of the big ideas for you to mull over yourself.

Multipurpose deep tunnel

The city plans to build an underground tunnel from Jl. MT Haryono in East Jakarta to Pluit in North Jakarta. According to the design, it will serve flood, waste and raw water; road traffic; and electric cables.

Water specialist from the University of Indonesia Firdaus Ali said the concept was first presented to former governor Sutiyoso in 2005 and had gained the support of Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, who often mentioned it during lectures in universities.

The project has had an estimated price tag of Rp 16 trillion (US$1.33 billion) attached to it, which could be taken from the city budget and investors.

Huge reservoir

Jan Sopaheluwakan, a senior researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), proposed the concept of a giant reservoir in areas prone to flooding in West Jakarta. In his design, the reservoir was on a 700-hectare plot and was 10 meters deep. It would also function as a raw water source that filtered the polluted river water.

'€œThe main challenge of the design would be land procurement, but I think the city can realize the program if it prioritizied industrial areas often inundated by water,'€ Jan said.

Massive dredging

The city and the central government plan to dredge the capital'€™s main rivers under several multi-year programs.

One of the projects, called the Jakarta Urgent Flood Mitigation Project (JUMFP) or Jakarta Emergency Dredging Initiative (JEDI), used $150 million in loans provided by the World Bank to dredge 11 rivers and two dams.

The city also plans to build nine new reservoirs to add to the 76 existing reservoirs and lakes across the capital, most of which are in a sorry state due to sedimentation.

Giant seawall

Plans are afoot for a giant seawall surrounding the northern coast of Jakarta with a toll road connecting the eastern and western regions of Jakarta.

Other design options include a seawall beyond the perimeter of the current northern coast reclamation project, with the seawall also acting as a bridge to connect some of Thousand Islands'€™ islets. The seawall will also process water from Jakarta'€™s rivers, which is expected to reduce subsidence-causing groundwater.

The idea was first thrown about during the administration of former governor Fauzi Bowo and was later heralded by current Governor Jokowi, who wants to start the project soon.

The mega project, estimated to take two decades to complete, is expected to swallow Rp 280 trillion ($23.3 billion), which will be born by the city budget, the state budget as well as the private sector.

Mass relocation

The dredging projects in some rivers and reservoirs will require the administration to relocate squatters who have been occupying the riverbank for years. The city and the Public Works Ministry are building a number of new low cost apartment buildings to cater for these people.

The apartments are in Jatinegara Kaum, Pulogebang and South Cipinang Besar in East Jakarta and Tambora in West Jakarta. They will accommodate 1,500 families. '€” JP

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