TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Official plays down claims of sabotage in water pump malfunction case
Change Size
A worker at the pump house at Pluit Dam in Penjaringan, North Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post/rez)
J
akarta Water Management Agency head Teguh Hendrawan has played down claims of sabotage over damage to four water pumps at the pump house at Pluit Dam in North Jakarta as suspected by Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
“We do not think that there is any case of sabotage in relation to the broken cables. We have to install new cables because we have not replaced them for 30 years,” Teguh told The Jakarta Post recently.
He said that water pump contractor PT Asiana Technologies Lestari had been working to replace the broken cables since last Thursday.
The cables were installed in 1986 by the Ministry of Public Works.
On Wednesday, Ahok expressed his suspicion that there may have been an element of sabotage in relation to the pump damage. The pumps protect part of the city, including the State Palace from flooding.
“If the pumps do not work, the waterway to Pluit Dam should be closed. And part of Jakarta will be inundated. It is soft sabotage,” said Ahok.
Meanwhile, head of the pump house at Pluit Dam, Joko, told The Post that four of the seven water pumps at the pump house had been unable to operate since January.
Among the areas that are protected by the pump house include the State Palace and City Hall, said Joko.
“With high intensity rain in Jakarta and its upper areas, both places could be inundated if the water pumps don’t operate. The broken cables need to be replaced promptly,” he said recently. (rez/bbn)
