P

ublic Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said on Sunday that preparations for Jakarta'€™s rainy season, which may reach its peak early next year, were in full swing.

Basuki said during an inspection at the city'€™s water pump houses that almost every water pump in the city was in good condition and could be utilized optimally to draw out water from flood-prone areas.

'€œThe pumps are in good condition and I will also coordinate with the city administration to overcome the annual flooding issue,'€ Basuki told The Jakarta Post after an inspection at the Kartini Pump House in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta.

The minister previously revealed that he had allocated more funds to next year'€™s flood-mitigation projects from Rp 5.1 trillion (US$410 million) in 2014 to Rp 6.19 trillion following predictions that the wet season would peak in January and February 2015.

The additional funds were aimed at handling flood problems that might affect the country'€™s business centers and agricultural areas.

Basuki added that he hoped that with the better infrastructure prepared before the rainy season, floods in the capital would not be as severe as previous years, when commercial districts and main thoroughfares were also affected.

'€œI hope Jakarta is more ready for the rainy season, the pumps and other infrastructure are better now,'€ he said.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, who also joined the inspection, said the administration and the central government were working together to deal with annual flooding.

However, he added that the severity of the floods would also depend on the level of rainfall.

'€œOur target is to minimize the [impact of] flooding as much as possible, so even if there are floods, they will recede quickly,'€ Djarot told reporters at Pluit Water Pump House in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

In April this year, the city administration installed three new large pumps in Pluit Water Pump House after receiving a grant from the Japanese government.

Djarot said he had ensured that all water pumps were ready to deal with the floods after the city administration had repaired four broken pumps recently.

He said he would also approach those who lived close to flood-prone areas about the possibility of relocating permanently to low-cost apartments (rusunawa) provided by the city administration.

'€œA lot of them have agreed to move to rusunawa. We will approach others, so they don'€™t have to be affected by floods every year,'€ he said.

Djarot also slammed Jakartans'€™ infamous littering habit, saying that it was one of the main causes of floods in the capital.

'€œEven a good water pump can'€™t work optimally if there'€™s a lot of trash in the river,'€ he said.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), tomorrow Greater Jakarta will be subject to downpours of varying intensity, ranging from mild to medium.

Data from the city administration says that more than 600 community units out of thousands across the capital are prone to flooding.

Early this year, over 89,000 people were displaced while 23 people were killed during the floods, which hit around 100 subdistricts.

In 2013, several business districts across the city were affected by the floods, which killed 27 people and displaced over 40,000.

Most Jakartans are familiar with the '€œfive-year cycle'€ theory with regard to severe flooding. The city experienced a series of severe floods in 1976, 1996, 2002, 2007, 2013 and 2014.

However, Firdaus Ali, a water specialist, says the five-year cycle theory is now irrelevant as overpopulation, as well as the poor application of spatial planning and urban development, have increased the risk of flooding.