Muara Baru residents in North Jakarta were not at fault for allegedly perforating a sea wall that caused tidal flooding last month, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said, while blaming the embankment project in the area.

Anies said fisherman used to moor their boats at the site of the embankment wall near the river mouth, but since the construction of the wall, residents could no longer find places to park their fishing boats, because water accumulated in the area instead of flowing out to sea.

Residents then decided to put holes through the wall for the water to run off, so they could park their boats.

“So it did not leak because it is broken, but because there's a need for the residents [to make holes on the wall],” Anies said on Wednesday.

On Dec.11 last year, leaks in the embankment wall in Muara Baru caused flooding in nearby residential areas, just weeks after Anies had inspected the wall in November to ensure it was strong enough.

The embankment wall in Muara Baru is part of the 20-kilometer sea wall being constructed by the Jakarta administration, the central government and private companies.

The sea wall is expected to prevent tidal flooding and is part of the national capital integrated coastal development (NCICD) plan for Jakarta.

Anies lamented that the embankment project had been carried out without consultation with residents.

“One of the problems I see is that there was no consultation with the residents [over the sea wall project]. [The authorities] just proceeded with it,” Anies said, tempo.co reported. (ami)