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fter a lengthy delay due to what it called bureaucratic red tape, the Public Works Ministry kicked off an infrastructure project on Tuesday that will be crucial to preventing flooding in the city.

The Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office of the Public Works Ministry is reinforcing a dike on the Pesanggrahan River in Bintaro, South Jakarta, that collapsed in late October sending floodwaters into a nearby housing complex.

The Public Works Ministry, which oversees infrastructure projects for the city’s seven large rivers — Cisadane, Angke, Pesanggrahan, Ciliwung, Sunter, Cakung and Kali Bekasi — should have begun rebuilding the dike immediately after the collapse, but was only able to begin breaking ground on Tuesday, project coordinator Bastari M. said.

Red tape delayed bidding on the project to reinforce a 50-meter section of the dike, Bastari said.

The Pesanggrahan River dike has collapsed three times, most recently in late October, sending water, mud and garbage into a housing complex run by the Civil Servant Cooperative Union.

The Public Works Ministry hoped to spend Rp 4.5 billion (US$504,000) on the construction of a new 466-meter-long dike to replace the existing one, together with a dredging project that would widen the river to 40 meters. But, the ministry has to wait for a new budget to be earmarked by the government in order to finance the project, Bastari said.

They could only build a 50-meter-long section to replace the collapsed portion, he said.

“The project will cost Rp 500 million and will be completed in December.”

When complete, the dike will be able to withstand water flowing up to 115 cubic meters per second, Bastari said.

The river’s usual flow is about 50 cubic meters per second.

Local community leader Joko Tursino said residents could not wait for the entire project to be finished, saying swift action was needed.

“Even when it’s not raining hard, water from the river easily runs into the neighborhood through the broken dike,” Joko said.

Water regularly inundates houses near the riverbank during the rainy season up to a half-meter high, he added.

The city administration is also currently fortifying the dike to prevent further flooding.

South Jakarta Public Works Agency water management division officer Yayat Hidayat said the city was carrying out its own project to reinforce a 56-meter section of the dike, adjacent to the section being repaired by the Public Works Ministry.

“The project will be done simultaneously with the Public Works Ministry project, and we also expect to finish in December,” Yayat said on Tuesday.

The project will involve piling dirt as reinforcement alongside the existing concrete dike, which
Yayat said was more than three decades old.