Depok Mayor Idris Abdul Shomad has urged the central government to carry out the revitalization process on some lakes in Depok, a satellite city of Jakarta, in a bid to tackle the issue of flooding in the capital.

"There are 26 lakes in Depok, which are registered at the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry. If half of them are revitalized, I am sure we would be able to tackle the flood problem in Jakarta," he said.

Idris said the plan had been proposed during the administration of then Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo. However, its progress was stagnant and could not be realized until today due to unclear regulations at the ministry, tempo.co reported.

"The ministry should have issued a regulation on the management of lakes, because it is no longer the authority of the city administration," the mayor said on Monday.

Depok Development Planning Board head Hardiono said his agency had made several attempts to solve the issue of flooding in Depok and Jakarta, including prohibiting people to construct buildings along the banks of lakes. 

"Developing buildings on the lakes' border areas is strictly forbidden," he said. (fac)