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Bold steps needed to overcome Jakarta floods

In 2007 the worst floods in memory inundated about 70 percent of the city, killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their houses

Deden Rukmana (The Jakarta Post)
Savannah, GeorgiA
Sat, March 20, 2010

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Bold steps needed to overcome Jakarta floods

I

n 2007 the worst floods in memory inundated about 70 percent of the city, killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their houses.

In 2008, floods inundated 37 of 267 subdistricts in Jakarta in more than 40 centimeters of water.

The Sedyatmo toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was also flooded and nearly 1,000 flights were delayed or diverted and 259 were cancelled.

Last year, the level of rainfalls in Jakarta was higher than those of 2008, reaching similar levels to that which fell in 2007.

However, the floods inundated only a few areas in more than 40 centimeters of water. The relative mildness of the 2009 floods was in part a result of the effectiveness of several strategic measures including dredging the river, reinforcing the Pluit, Sunter and Riario dams, and the development of the East Flood Canal.

Interestingly, this year’s floods in Jakarta inundated more areas than last year’s floods despite less rain falling.

This year’s floods also killed at least 2 people and displaced more than 1,700 in the Kampung Melayu, Bukit Duri and Bidaracina areas, from the overflowing Ciliwung River (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 13 and Feb. 20).

In the aftermath of these annual floods, which generally hit the city in the month of February, the government usually focuses on releasing floodwater as quickly as possible into the sea, particularly
on the development of the East Flood Canal.

This project was launched in the aftermath of major floods in 2002 and has progressed very
slowly because of the complicated processes involved in land acquisitions.

The canal finally reached the sea on December 31, 2009, but there are still several unfinished sections. In the aftermath of this year’s floods, the government planned to connect the Ciliwung River to the Cipinang River, which is now attached to the East Flood Canal.

The East Flood Canal has been considered the most feasible means to prevent future flooding in Jakarta, but clearly cannot prevent flooding entirely.

The canal, coupled with the dredging of rivers, is only able to mitigate impacts of flooding. We also witnessed the effectiveness of the flood early warning system during this year’s floods, allowing residents to make necessary preparations before floods arrived.

The annual floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that Jakarta cannot sustain the levels of growth it has experienced.

For many years, new homes, commercials and office buildings have proliferated across the city and many of them have converted water catchment areas, green areas and wetlands.

Jakarta is poised to grow faster than any other urban areas in Indonesia, but cannot find suitable land to accommodate this growth.

Jakarta needs bold moves to prevent future flooding. Rapid urbanization in Jakarta must be slowed.
One possible way to reduce urbanization in Jakarta is to redistribute the central functions of Jakarta to other parts of the nation, and to strengthen other urban agglomerations in Indonesia to pull urban growth away from the capital.

The idea of Indonesian capital relocation out of Jakarta also needs to be strongly reconsidered.
Water catchment areas, green areas and wetlands that have been converted into urbanized areas need to be re-functionalized as non-urbanized areas.

A good example of re-conversion was the decision of the Jakarta administration to convert 27 gas stations in five districts into green areas, in November 2009.

The closure of these gas stations will add another 10,505 square meters of green space to the city. This is a bold move by the Jakarta administration and such a move needs to be replicated and expanded to other areas across the city.

Currently, green areas in Jakarta account for less than 10 percent of the city’s total area, far below the target of 30 percent set in the 2007 Spatial Planning Law.

The 2030 Jakarta spatial plan, an important and comprehensive document for shaping the next 20 years of life in the capital, is now in the making.

The bold move to expand the green areas in the city needs to be strongly considered in the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan.

The cost of converting urbanized areas into green areas may be expensive, but such sacrifices are necessary for the future of Jakarta, including to prevent future floods.


The writer is assistant professor and coordinator of the graduate
program in Urban Studies and Planning at Savannah State University, the United States.

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