As the rainy season nears its peak, the Jakarta city administration has begun preparing for flooding by readying water pumps, including mobile appliances, to secure a number of flood-prone areas in the capital.

"We'€™ve prepared 69 mobile water pumps and we have put them in five areas in Jakarta, especially in the areas that are prone to floods," Water Management Agency head Teguh Hendrawan told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday.

The areas that are being given particular attention include Grogol in West Jakarta, Pesanggrahan in South Jakarta and Cawang in East Jakarta.

The city has 451 pump houses, of which 21 do not work, according to Teguh, and the administration has been trying to repair the pumps, work that is expected to be complete this week.

Many areas of the city rely on pump houses to prevent flooding because flood mitigation projects remain incomplete. Northern parts of the city completely rely on pumps as they are below sea level.

'€œIf we cannot fix those pumps, we will buy new ones this year,'€ Teguh said, adding that if all pumps functioned well, Jakarta would not suffer unduly from flooding.

In its efforts to mitigate flooding, the city administration has also evicted hundreds of people living along river banks, particularly the banks of the Ciliwung River to allow flood-mitigation projects to proceed. The city had also deployed equipment to dredge the rivers to expand their capacity.

To eliminate flooding on a number of roads the city has also unclogged the roads'€™ drainage systems.

'€œHowever, preparing for flooding is not the only the work of the city administration. Jakarta residents need to participate in preventing annual flooding,'€ said Teguh adding that they should not dispose of garbage anywhere that could block rainwater from flowing into rivers. (bbn)(+)

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