T

he Jakarta administration has begun taking preparatory measures ahead of the rainy season in the city'€™s flood-prone areas by intensifying dredging, drain maintenance and pump repairs.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Monday that the water management agency had begun cleaning rivers by dredging sedimentation as well as repairing equipment such as excavators.

'€œYou can see in the Ancol area [North Jakarta] that we have started dredging the river there,'€ he said.

He added that the administration had also rented additional equipment from private companies and was making sure that water pumps were working well.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the rainy season in Jakarta generally starts in November. The rain, however, usually intensifies in January or February.

Jakarta Water Management Agency head Tri Djoko Margianto said that his side was ready to face flooding.

Tri said that besides big projects such as river dredging, the agency had also cooperated with local leaders to order their contracted workers to clean the drainage.

'€œThe program should be integrated from one area to another, so drains are cleaned completely,'€ he said.

Tri said his agency was prioritizing managing the northern part of Jakarta, which is the downstream of 13 rivers in Jakarta and other flood-prone areas such as Krukut River in South Jakarta.

His agency was also checking on pumps and carrying out necessary repairs. '€œWe have around 150 pumps. Eighty to 90 percent of them are in good condition,'€ he said, adding that the remaining pumps needed minor fixing.

He said, however, that he could not guarantee that all pumps would work perfectly during the peak of the rainy season, which usually lasts three months.

'€œSometimes, they [the pumps] work for 24 hours and strange material like garbage affects the performance.'€ He said.

In early February this year, flooding occurred in the area around the State Palace in Central Jakarta because pumps in the Pluit Reservoir in North Jakarta were not functioning.

Referred to as Ring 1, the area is home not only to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Offices but also to several government offices and the National Museum, which has seen an inundated ground floor.

Ahok blamed state utility company PLN for shutting off electricity in parts of North Jakarta during floods.

He speculated that someone had '€œsabotaged'€ the pumps and ordered the Jakarta Police to deploy officers to sniff around for signs of sabotage.

PLN denied the accusation, saying that it turned off electricity in the Pluit Reservoir area after receiving reports that the area was flooded.

'€œWe had to quickly cut the electricity to follow safety standard procedures,'€ PLN'€™s general manager for Jakarta and Tangerang, Haryanto WS, said.