JAKARTA CAN SAY GOODBYE TO FLOODS, SAYS EXPERT

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 18 (ANTARA) - Jakarta was hit by a major flood on Thursday, which nearly crippled the capital city's life, causing the death of at least 14 people and halting hundreds of buses, trains and factories.          The capital city experiences floods each year, but Thursday's flooding was part of Jakarta's latest series in the five-year major flood cycle.          This week's flooding was described by Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as being worse than flooding during the previous five-year flooding cycle in 2007, which claimed the lives of 80 residents.          This annual natural disaster has caused headaches to the Jakarta administration since time immemorial. The easiest scapegoat to blame are Jakarta residents who dispose of  refuse at will.          But can't the capital city be freed from annual floods? Jakarta can virtually say goodbye to floods if the administration is serious about solving the problem, according to an expert.          "To cut off the chain of the flood cycle, there are at least five steps the Jakarta government should take," Nirwono Yoga of Trisakti University said on Friday.          The five steps consisted of developing water catchment areas, improving the Jakarta master plan, revitalizing primary and secondary gutters, increasing the number of dams in upstream areas and normalizing the function of 13 rivers crisscrossing the city.           "The government should build water catchment areas. Many areas which were initially designed as water catchments have, in fact, been developed into residential housing and office districts," Nirwono noted.          He said that Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo must have the courage to improve the Jakarta Master Plan. The functions of landscapes based on the original master plan should be returned based on initial planning. Also, expansion of green open spaces (RTH) from 9.8 percent to 30 percent of a building plot must be sped up so that they would function as water catchment areas.           "For these purposes, an integrated green space auditing team is needed to look into plots of lands of office buildings and shopping centers. Building owners must be prepared to set aside 30 percent of their land for RTH that would serve as a water catchment," Nirwono said.          The city's drainage system also needs to be revitalized. The diameter of primary and secondary gutters must be increased from the current 60 cm to 200 cm. All gutters must be well-connected to each other using the eco-drainage concept, so that they will function properly.         "The drainage system must be widened to contain a large volume of water, before the water can soak into the ground," he pointed out.          The other effort the Jakarta governor should make is to increase the number of dams in upstream areas of the capital city, particularly in the buffer zone areas in Bogor and Depok.          "The Jakarta government must revitalize and optimize existing dams and reservoirs. They must be free from mud sediment, garbage, weeds, water hyacinth, illegal settlements and huts in their surrounding areas," he added.           Further, he said that the other important step is normalizing the function of 13 rivers running through the city. The width of these rivers, which now reaches between 20 m and 30 m, should be expanded to 100 m.          Along the rivers, he said, the government should build green-belts and relocate residents to eco-environmentally designed integrated housing.          "If the five steps are taken and really implemented by Joko Widodo, Jakarta can say goodbye to floods," Nirwono noted.          In the meantime, former vice president Jusuf Kalla stressed the importance of improving the infrastructure in Jakarta as part of the efforts to cope with flooding problems.          Kalla even called for immediate actions to be taken in the current rainy season, saying that if improvements are not made now, they would be forgotten again after the rainy season had passed.        Kalla made his remarks following a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhono on Friday.          He added that now is the time for the government to improve infrastructures to prevent the repetition of flooding in Jakarta. "I share the President's opinion that now is the time for the government to take steps and improve the infrastructure. Improvements should be made now during the rainy season," he said.          The former vice president said the government should not wait until the floods had ended. "If you do so, it would cause you to forget it again,"  Kalla said.          As a consequence, of course, the government will need a large fund, he added. "So far, we set aside a large subsidy, but it is enjoyed by those who are trapped in traffic jams. So, why not try to use the funds for developing infrastructures, not in spending it in traffic jams," Kalla said.          He was referring to the large subsidy for premium gasoline, which is mostly enjoyed by wealthy people who own cars. The government set a fuel subsidy of Rp193.8 trillion this year.          Kalla proposed  that fuel subsidies be reduced and used for infrastructure improvement.          "This is actually a problem of choice, whether we are going to improve infrastructure soon or going to spend subsidies on traffic jams," he said.          Other opinions on how to free Jakarta from floods came from social scientist Prof. HM Narsanie Darlan of the University of Palangka Raya (Unpar).          He raised the suggestion of moving the capital city from Jakarta to Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, so that the central government would not be affected by floods.          "Probably former president Soekarno was right when he raised the issue of moving the capital city to Palangka Raya. Each time Jakarta is flooded with water, Palangka Raya remains safe," he said.          He added that Palangka Raya City was located in a hilly area far from floods and has a good canal system. "But the discourse on moving the capital city to Palangka Raya, which  resurfaced several years ago, is no longer being raised now," he said.          Former president Soekarno had the idea to move the capital city to Palangka Raya in the 1950s because he envisioned that Jakarta would no longer be  ideal to serve as a capital city in the future.          But former vice president Jusuf Kalla disagreed with the idea, at least for now. He said that calls for moving the capital from Jakarta to another location should not be given priority at this time and the government should, instead, focus on improving the city's infrastructure to make it less vulnerable to flooding.          "In my opinion, the solution is not to move, but to fix the infrastructure of Jakarta," he said.          Kalla pointed out that moving the capital would 'be an expensive affair, as it will involve relocating thousands of government employees.          "Moving offices is easy, but how do you move 200,000 people? It would be anything, but not easy," he continued.          Kalla said the city's drainage system must be repaired and the river widened in order to make Jakarta better-equipped against floods.          "Besides, we need to reduce the congestion and squalor in the city today. Once these things are fixed, the flooding problem will be pretty much solved," he noted.***4*** (T.A014/INE/A014) (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 19-01-2013 17:12: