T

he Public Works and Public Housing Ministry has earmarked Rp 6.19 trillion (US$329 million) from the state budget for next year'€™s flood-mitigation projects, following predictions that the wet season will peak in January and February 2015.

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the government decided to add an increase to the budget for the flood-mitigation projects to 2014'€™s Rp 5.1 trillion in order to accelerate infrastructure projects aimed at handling flood problems, especially in the country'€™s business centers and agricultural areas.

'€œWe want to minimize the impact of floods, particularly in agricultural areas, to support the government'€™s food-sufficiency program,'€ Basuki told reporters after a coordinating meeting on flood-mitigation efforts at his office.

'€œI have sent letters instructing officials to check the conditions of embankments, dams and water pumps before the arrival of the rainy season,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, the ministry'€™s director general of water resources, Mudjiadi, said that the ministry had conducted monthly checks on flood-control facilities.

'€œBefore the floods come, we have begun work on flood-mitigation efforts, including river normalization projects and regular checks on dams,'€ he said.

The ministry has also liaised with the Greater Jakarta administration and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Syamsul Maarif, as well as Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama, Tangerang Mayor Arief Wismansyah and Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi, to work together in dealing with problems brought by the peak of the wet season.

Basuki also said that the ministry and the BNPB were currently working to produce a map of disaster-prone areas, in the wake of a deadly landslide in Banjarnegara, Central Java, which killed dozens of people.

He said that the Banjarnegara region, where the landslide happened, was among the areas most vulnerable to geological disasters and in need of a proper early warning system and disaster awareness campaign.

'€œWe are still in talks with the Central Java governor as well as the residents, on whether in the future we will have to fully relocate people living in the area,'€ he said.

Of around 300 people living in the affected area, dozens are still unaccounted for.

Basuki said the minister had deployed heavy equipment, including excavators, bulldozers and trucks, to help clear an access road through the debris.

He said more heavy equipment would be deployed within the next few days in order to expedite the evacuation process.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from last week'€™s landslide in Banjarne-gara'€™s Jemblung hamlet had risen to 61 after search-and-rescue teams located five more bodies.