OVER 200 DAMS AROUND JAKARTA NEED IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

By Andi Abdussalam


        Jakarta, March 28 (ANTARA) - The collapse of the Gintung reservoir which killed at least 50 people on Jakarta's outskirts on Friday has prompted many quarters to urge the authorities to pay greater attention to over 200 dams in the capital city and its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek).

        "The government should revitalize about 200 lakes in the Jabodetabek area so that they can continue to hold back water when heavy rain falls in upstream regions. It should also install early warning systems immediately," Erwin Rustam, campaigner for food and water availability of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) said here on Saturday.

        More than 50 people were killed on Friday when the sluice gate of the dam of the 21-hectare Situ Gintung lake in Cireundeu village, Ciputat, Tangerang district, Banten, broke down. Built in the 1930s, the aging Gintung Dam collapsed because it was unable to accommodate more water on account of heavy rains which poured down in some districts in Banten and West Java provinces all night long on Thursday.

        In order to anticipate other dam disasters, Walhi called on the government to install early warning systems for people living around the lakes in the Jabodetabek region. "The government should provide people with early warning systems immediately. The devices should be installed within the next 24 hours at the latest in disaster prone areas," Walhi campaigner Erwin Rustam said.

        Following the Situ Ginting disaster, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo ordered the Jakarta Public Works Agency to immediately inspect all flood prevention systems and infrastructures throughout the capital city. "I have ordered the relevant authorities to check and recheck all the flood prevention infrastructures," he said at his City Hall office on Friday. However, he said, in Jakarta there was no embankment as big as that of Lake Gintung.

        President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed the relevant authorities to reconstruct the Situ Gintung."The burst dam must be rebuilt. We will also design the new structure in a proper way so that it will not cause any further public concern," the President said.

        In the disaster, a 250-meter-long section of the dam broke down allowing huge volumes of dam water to sweep over residential areas. Besides instructing the rebuilding of a dam of better quality, the president also said the government would help residents whose homes were damaged rebuild their dwellings.

        "The government, as it used to be, will help residents reconstruct their damaged houses," Yudhoyono said. The head of state hoped that the central and local governments would properly coordinate their efforts in the reconstruction of the Situ Gintung Dam so that the emergency response given by both sides would proceed smoothly.

        In the meantime, a public work ministry official said the government would maintain the Lake Gintung whose embankment had burst early on Friday for water conservation. "The lake is needed for water conservation and so it has to be rebuilt," the head of the Ciliwung-Cisadane river area service of the Ministry of Public Works, Pitoyo Subandrio, said.

        He said that although the area around the dam had changed into a crowded residential area the dam would not be closed. He said the government was now securing some areas around the site to prevent them from being overflowed again by setting up concrete fences.

        The Lake Gintung disaster has caused great worry of the Jakarta and its satellite town residents that a similar disaster may hit other areas, particularly those around reservoirs.

        According to Walhi, the government has to revitalize at least 200 dams in the Jabodetak areas in order to contain waters when there is heavy rains in the upstream areas, he said. "This revitalization program needs to be coordinated immediately between the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the Ministry of Public Works as well as with the regional governments of Jabodetabek," Erwin Rustam said.

        He said that the program should be carried out immediately, particularly for dams whose down stream areas were residential areas. The other solution that could be taken in order to over come possible natural disaster is to stop the change in the function of river basin (DAS) and water catchments areas.

        The change in the function and water catchments has caused the decline in the number of reservoirs in the Jabodetabek areas. According to Walhi, at least 56 lakes had disappeared due to lack of conservations.

        "The number of dams in the Jabodetak area has declined from 240 in 2004 to 184 in 2009 while the government always claimed that there are over 200 lakes at present," Erwin Rustam said.

        Of the 184 dams, 19 are still in good condition while the remaining ones are now experiencing serious sedimentation and damage. In term of width, the 240 reservoirs in the Jabodetabek areas have also decreased from 2,337.10 hectares to 1,462 hectares (184 dams).

        The average depth of the reservoirs also has dropped from the previous 5 to seven meters to less than 2.5 - 3 meters, including the Gintung dam in Jakarta outskirts in Cireundeu village, Ciputat sub-district, Tangerang. Three main factors have caused the disappearance of the lakes, namely the change in the function of land, the lakes being used as garbage dump sites and sedimentation.

        The change in the function of land has caused the dam to be converted into resettlement, restaurant and business centers. "There are lakes in Jakarta and Depok which have become garbage dumping sites," Rustam said.

        After all, efforts made so far to restore the lake function were partially in nature. According to Rustam efforts made so far have not yet been in line with the River Basin Areas (DAS) restoration program of the Forestry Ministry.***3*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/12:45/A/O001)