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.
Property developers in hot seat over floods
Recent flooding across Greater Jakarta has raised questions as to whether property developers should bear the responsibility of floods in their areas, with residents of several communities staging protests — one of which turned violent — after their homes were inundated after heavy rainfall
Change Size
R
span>Recent flooding across Greater Jakarta has raised questions as to whether property developers should bear the responsibility of floods in their areas, with residents of several communities staging protests — one of which turned violent — after their homes were inundated after heavy rainfall.
Siti, a 44-year-old resident of East Cakung, East Jakarta, was finally able to lay out her mattress in front of her home to let it dry under the sun after floodwaters receded on Wednesday.
She said the dam of a water disposal facility for the Jakarta Garden City (JGC) housing complex had overflowed during heavy rain and inundated her neighborhood on Sunday morning.
“We never had floods before, not until the complex was built around 500 meters from here,” Siti said. “This was the worst disaster I’ve seen during my 30 years of living in this area.”
Around 6 kilometers from Cakung, a resident in Bekasi, West Java, accused another property developer of flooding his neighborhood.
Tito, who lives in the Harapan Indah housing complex, lambasted PT Hasana Damai Putra (HDP) for not maintaining the neighborhood’s sewers for the past seven years. The clogged sewers, he said, had led to flooding after continuous rainfall over the weekend.
“Did the developer really care about the drainage system here when building this complex? I don’t think so,” he added.
On Tuesday, dozens of people living near JGC attacked AEON shopping mall, located in the middle of the housing complex, while Harapan Indah residents staged a rally outside the HDP office in Medan Satria, Bekasi. Both groups demanded that the developers take responsibility for the recent floods in their communities.
Severe flooding that started on Sunday inundated at least 294 community units (RW) across the capital, forcing 3,565 people to leave their homes.
However, Trisakti University urban studies expert Nirwono Yoga said developers should not be held responsible for floods occurring in their properties, especially when other areas were also inundated.
He cited a 2006 Public Works and Housing Ministerial Regulation, which requires developers to build a facility to contain rainwater to prevent their properties from flooding. It is among the requirements needed to obtain a construction permit from local administrations.
“The developers will try to prevent their properties from being inundated because floods would affect the price of their houses. Therefore, I think it wouldn’t be accurate to say that property developers are the main cause of flooding,” Nirwono said.
Jakarta Property Institute (JPI) executive director Wendy Haryanto echoed his sentiments, pointing out that developers must pass an Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal), which included flood mitigation, before they could secure a construction permit.
“They must comply with strict requirements, including connecting their water tunnels to the local administration’s main water treatment center,” Wendy said. “If floods continue to happen, we should also question the local administrations. Have they been able to maintain their waterways?”
Both JGC and HDP have rejected resident’s accusations, with JGC spokesperson Gunawan Setyo Hadi saying the developer had built a drainage system that included eight pumps to absorb floodwater and two 1.2 million-cubic-meter dams. He added that these facilities could also be used by neighboring residents.
“But to be honest, we don’t know why the areas [around JGC] continue to flood. We are also saddened by the recent disaster, but we have built facilities to try to prevent this as we don’t want neighboring communities to be inundated.”
JGC is currently working on a waterway that would connect its dam to a major water tunnel to prevent an overflow at both embankments, he added.
HDP could not be reached for immediate comment.
Paulus Totok Lusida, chairman of property developer association Indonesian Real Estate Developers Association (REI), called on regional spatial planning agencies to regularly evaluate the housing projects in their respective areas to prevent any form of mismanagement.
“The regional administrations should supervise the construction of these residential complexes, so don’t put the blame on us,” he said.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, lambasted Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan for failing to prevent and mitigate flooding in the capital.
House of Representatives Commission V overseeing infrastructure summoned Anies, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil and Banten Governor Wahidin Halim for a hearing on Wednesday, but none of the three regional leaders showed up.
"We want to hear what Anies has done so far,” said Commission V chairman Lasarus of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.
NasDem Party lawmaker Robert Rouw said the three leaders’ absence showed their complete disregard for their own residents.
Representing Anies at the meeting was deputy assistant for spatial planning Vera Revina Sari, who said the governor was unable attend because he was busy reviewing the impact of the floods.
Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, who was at the hearing, emphasized that flood mitigation in Greater Jakarta must involve the participation of both the central and regional governments. (glh)
— Ghina Ghaliya contributed to this story
