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Riau deluge sparks call for infrastructure overhaul
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Children play in floodwaters at the Pondok Karya police housing complex in Mampang Prapatan, Jakarta, on Dec. 8, 2023, following heavy rain. People living along the Krukut River are no strangers to flooding, as the river regularly overflows during downpours. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
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eeks of flooding in Riau and ensuing damage to transportation networks have set off alarms over Indonesia’s spotty disaster preparedness, leading to calls for authorities to reevaluate the safety of public buildings and transportation networks amid expectations of more extreme weather to come.
The Eastern Trans-Sumatra Highway (Jalintim), which runs from Sumatra’s northernmost province of Aceh to the island’s southern tip in Lampung, has been cut in two for the past two weeks as a result of flooding in Pelalawan regency, Riau province.
As of Sunday, at least 12 kilometers of the Pelalawan section of the highway were submerged, according to media reports. The flooding, ranging from 50 centimeters to 130 cm in depth, trapped a number of trucks and heavy vehicles and caused large portions of Sumatra’s transportation network to seize up.
The Riau Public Works and Housing Agency claimed it had to wait for the Public Works and Housing Ministry to start repairs on the national road, which is under the jurisdiction of the ministry.
“Since [Jalintim] is a national road, we can only coordinate [with the ministry],” the agency’s head of highways, Teza Darsa, said in a statement on Saturday. “If they need our help, we are ready to provide assistance. But so far, there has been no request.”
Flooding in neighboring West Sumatra damaged the Kiambang Bridge, which connects the province’s capital of Padang to Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province. The incident got the attention of Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, who visited West Sumatra on Friday to oversee the bridge’s repairs.
Heavy rain over the past few days also caused the Cikapundung River in West Java to breach its banks, flooding parts of the province's Bandung regency.
