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Ministry to audit Jakarta spatial plans following widespread floods
The central government wants to asses spatial plans for Greater Jakarta and has threatened to tear down houses if necessary to reduce flood risks.
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Disrupted operations: A railway officer gives a signal using his flag on flooded tracks at Sudirman Station in Jakarta on Tuesday. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry wants to asses spatial plans for Greater Jakarta following widespread flooding that hit parts of the capital on Tuesday.
Budi Situmorang, the ministry's spatial use and land control director general, said officials were “racing against time” to audit the spatial plan from "upstream to downstream", adding that the uphill areas of Greater Jakarta were particularly problematic due to the construction of villas.
"We would like to conduct replanting in the upstream area together with the Environment and Forestry Ministry, because our requirement is that villas can only occupy 20 percent of the total spatial plan," Budi said in a statement. “We will dismantle [villas] if their number exceeds the limit.”
Budi said the building density in Greater Jakarta had clogged many water catchment areas in the area, causing rivers to overflow due to constant rain and often resulting in floods.
“The rain [on Tuesday] was torrential, but many water catchment areas are closed due to buildings. Thus, the drainage system did not function properly.”
The ministry was also working with the Public Works and Housing Ministry’s Directorate General for Water Resources, Budi said. “Areas in Bogor and Depok used to have extensive lakes, but the latter have been gradually reduced, so we are working together to prevent any further reduction.”
The ministry would identify and go as far as to dismantle buildings, especially those built without permits, in several locations in Jakarta based on Law No. 24/2007 on disaster management.
Greater Jakarta was hit by the fourth major floods this year on Tuesday morning following torrential overnight rainfall.
According to PetaBencana.id, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s (BNPB) website for real-time flood information, 87 locations across Jakarta had been inundated by floods on Tuesday, which paralyzed part of the capital city and disrupted transportation. (awa)
