The budget has been used to finance nine flood-mitigation projects, ranging from dams and retention basins to underground water tunnels and river normalization initiatives in Bandung and Karawang, as well as two of Jakarta’s satellite cities: Bogor and Bekasi.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil says his administration is currently completing the Ciawi Dam and the Sukamahi Dam in Bogor.

The construction of the Ciawi Dam began in 2016 and is now 45 percent built. Ridwan expected that the Rp 3.9 trillion dam would be completed this year.

The Sukamahi Dam, meanwhile, is 34 percent built, with 90 percent of the project’s land acquisition complete.

Ridwan said the two dams would be able to hold 30 percent of the water that flows to Jakarta.

“With the budget allocation we will focus on the upstream, to hold the water. Next year we will move to the downstream,” he told the media on Tuesday in Bandung.

The government is also completing the construction of two dams in the Cikeas and Cileungsi rivers in Bekasi — one of the worst-hit areas during the recent massive floods in Greater Jakarta.

In Karawang, the government will build a dam in the Cibeet River. “We already secured the project’s budget, totaling Rp 800 billion,” Ridwan added.

In Greater Bandung, the government has completed the Curug tunnel and the Cieunteung retention basin and will construct another retention basin in Andir. The facilities are expected to control water flow in the southern part of Bandung, which is often flooded by the Citarum River overflowing after heavy rainfall.

The Curug tunnel will speed up the flow of the Citarum River, while the retention basins will hold the overflowing water.

Ridwan said they had just started the tender process for a retention basin in Andir, which just like the one in Cieunteung will have a total area of about 8 hectares.

In the eastern part of Bandung, Ridwan said the central and provincial governments had been working to widen sewers and normalize three rivers in the area.

“Usually they get flooded in the rainy season but not this year,” he said.

Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said people could already see the benefit of the newly constructed Cisangkuy floodway.

“Usually, when there is high-intensity rain, around 300 millimeters per day, people have to use boats, but on Dec. 17, it hit 424 millimeters per day and people still rode their motorcycles, the roads were still dry,” Basuki said.

The tunnel, Basuki said, was effective at siphoning off the water that usually inundated Bandung after heavy rain.

Basuki said he had learned that the water level could decrease dozens of centimeters in in five hours.

“It’s still not perfect because once the water receded there was still a puddle in the basin. I will handle these problems this year,” he said.

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