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Jakarta Post

Residents pile up sacks of stones as ‘reclamation’

Extra space: People living on the Ciliwung riverbank in Tebet in South Jakarta are pictured on Saturday

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Tue, August 20, 2019

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Residents pile up sacks of stones as ‘reclamation’

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xtra space: People living on the Ciliwung riverbank in Tebet in South Jakarta are pictured on Saturday. They have expanded their living space by piling up sacks of stones as a foundation.(JP/Budi Sutrisno)

Some residents living along a section of the Ciliwung River in Jakarta have reportedly been placing sacks of stones on the riverbanks to extend their living space, causing the river to narrow and flow faster.

When The Jakarta Post arrived on Saturday, the back parts of some houses were standing on piles of sacks, yet some residents said some other piles were used only to resist landslides.

Around 120 kilometers long, the Ciliwung River is the main river into which tributaries run from across the capital city. The section where the sacks are found sits in between Jl. Manggarai Selatan in Tebet district, South Jakarta and Jl. Kebon Pala in Jatinegara district, East Jakarta.

The Post noticed there were sacks of stones on both sides.

A number of widened points on the riverbank on the side of Jl. Kebon Pala were seen with sacks stretching as far as 5 meters from the riverside. Besides stones, large amounts of garbage were also piled up along the riverbank.

Pierre, 36, who lives just across from an expanded point on the riverbank, said he was worried the faster river flow would erode the ground on which his house stood and cause a landslide.

A small vendor living nearby, Abdul Rajak, 57, said the residents there filled the sacks with rocks from construction leftovers from the ongoing entrenchment of drainage in the neighboring areas.

“We place the rocks hoping that they can prevent the houses from collapsing when hit by river water and floods that occur here every year,” Abdul said.

He recalled that earlier this year, the water rose to about 1.5 m above the riverbank, which forced the affected residents to evacuate their homes and go to schools or districts offices for several days.

Abdul added that in February he saw a flood causing the back of several houses on the riverbank near Jl. Manggarai Selatan to collapse.

“Then I saw some new piles of white and clean sacks of stones piled up at several points. Perhaps those affected by the flood have rebuilt their places that way,” he said.

Yuyun, 55, the head of a neighborhood unit who lives just a few doors away from a house whose back part was raised on a pile of sacks on Jl. Manggarai Selatan, said the house belonged to a group of welders and that they had never contacted her to ask permission to place the sacks.

“There are maybe seven of them who are now away for a holiday break. The residents here never complained to me about the sacks, thinking that they were only for preventing landslides,” she said.

Tebet district head Dyan Airlangga said he had instructed his staff members to check on the situation, and that after receiving their reports, he would communicate what the team found to the South Jakarta mayor, who would pass on the information to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.

After the inspection, some of the stone piles were cleared from the riverbank on Sunday, kompas.com reported. Local resident Yusman said he saw many city workers breaking away the reclamation materials piled up by residents. Moreover, they also took away garbage from some parts of the riverbank, helping the water to flow more smoothly.

Head of the Public Works and Housing Ministry’s Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office (BBWSCC), Bambang Hidayah, said he had also sent his operational and maintenance officers to check on this case.

“We will approach the community and disseminate information about the dangers of taking such action, that a narrow river can obstruct the flow of water, increasing the likelihood of a flood,” he said.

The Ciliwung River is a major river in the capital that is being normalized by the BBWSCC to restore the width of the river from 35 to 50 meters, expecting a more balanced water holding capacity.

From 2013 to 2017, the BBWSCC normalized 16.19 km, half of the target of 33.69 km.

“The city administration has instructed us to continue the project next year, with a target of normalizing a further 1.5 km,” Bambang said. (syk)

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