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.
Regent blames Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway for unprecedented floods
The flood subsequently led to heavy congestion on the regency’s major thoroughfare as well as an alternative route to Lembang, which lasted for hours and affected hundreds of vehicles.
Change Size
Residents of Kota Bambu, West Jakarta, collect trash from the overflowing Ciliwung River on Wednesday. (JP/Dionnasius Aditya)
H
eavy rainfall caused flooding as deep as 2 meters at the Padalarang underpass in West Bandung regency, West Java, which Regent Aa Umbara Sutisna blamed on the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway construction project.
The flood subsequently led to heavy congestion on the regency’s major thoroughfare as well as an alternative route to Lembang, which lasted for hours and affected hundreds of vehicles.
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project is being carried out by the Indonesian-Chinese consortium, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC).
"There were no floods before the KCIC project. The West Bandung administration is not responsible for the floods; it’s the high-speed railway project," the regent said.
He urged KCIC to take action and prevent further flooding in the Padalarang underpass.
“[Representatives of] KCIC must come soon. The flooding must stop. It shouldn't harm the people of West Bandung.”
Additionally, dozens of families in Margajaya village, Ngamprah subdistrict, West Bandung regency, were forced to leave their homes and take shelter at nearby mosques on Tuesday afternoon, when an embankment burst following heavy rain.
West Java Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD West Java) operational control manager Budi Budiman Wahyu said heavy rainfall coupled with the broken embankment had led to flooding in residential areas.
"Flood waters reached 70 to 180 centimeters in depth. Houses were inundated," he said.
A search and rescue (SAR) team has evacuated 31 families affected by the floods. Twenty-one of them have taken shelter at Attin mosque and the remaining at Al-Ikhlas mosque.
"Their houses are filled with mud, so victims will have to temporarily take shelter," said SAR Bandung team leader Edwin Purnama.
Another 131 families have been affected by the recent floods, the team said.
Aa Umbara has instructed BPBD West Java to build a temporary embankment by using sand bags.
"I don't know whether the embankment was built by the Public Works Agency or a private developer, so I’m not sure about its quality," he said.
