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City halts river project amid relocation roadblock
River cruisers: Sanitation workers gather waste as motorists pass above in Jati Pulo, Central Jakarta, on Sunday
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River cruisers: Sanitation workers gather waste as motorists pass above in Jati Pulo, Central Jakarta, on Sunday.(JP/Jerry Adiguna)
The Jakarta administration is likely to delay plans to bulldoze houses located on riverbanks in the capital this year due to the lack of low-cost subsidized apartments available to accommodate the planned evictees.
Jakarta’s Water Management Agency head Teguh Hendarwan said in the initial phase of the plan, which was formed as part of an effort to mitigate floods, the administration made it a priority to evict hundreds of residents from buildings sitting along the Krukut and Ciliwung rivers.
Along the Krukut River alone, he said, around 700 buildings needed to be cleared in order to make space to widen the river so that it could accommodate more water during the rainy season.
“However, the problem was that we needed to relocate the residents first before we proceeded with the river normalization,” Teguh told The Jakarta Post over the weekend. “The apartment units were not yet available [...] so the governor’s instruction [to clear the buildings] could not be executed.”
The administration planned to continue its river normalization project in order to mitigate annual flooding in the city. As forty percent of Jakarta is below sea level and with the existence of 14 rivers, flooding has become a major problem in the city.
On Thursday, massive floods inundated the homes of 8,000 residents along the Ciliwung riverbanks, with Cawang and Cililitan subdistricts in Kramat Jati district, East Jakarta, having been affected the worst.
Aside from the relocation issue, Teguh said the administration also faced legal issues as some 300 residents had land certificates.
Some building owners along the Krukut River in Kemang, South Jakarta, he said, had certificates allowing them to occupy the riverbanks despite an existing regulation that prohibits the construction of buildings five meters or less from the river.
Teguh, however, declined to comment on the issuance of the certificates. “I don’t know how those certificates could have been issued. It is under the National Land Agency’s authority.”
According to Teguh, the administration was expected to resume the river normalization project after the gubernatorial election.
“However, we are not sure about the precise date as [...] the administration needs to provide housing facilities, as well as take care of legal matters.”
Separately, Housing and Government Building Agency head Arifin said that low-cost apartments in the capital were fully occupied.
Hence, he said, the administration was currently accelerating the establishment of new apartments to accomodate the evictees.
This year, the administration is set to build 24 more apartment buildings that are expected to add 11,105 units by the end of 2017.
It is also currently building five apartments in Cakung Barat, Jalan Bekasi Kilometer 2, Rawa Bebek and Semper — all in East Jakarta — and Marunda in North Jakarta.
Regarding the 24 new buildings, Jakarta Goods and Services Procurement Agency head Blessmiyanda said the cost of the apartments would range from Rp 113 billion (US$8.46 million) to Rp 567 billion.
