Delete The 2022 Infiltration Well Budget, DKI DPRD: The Most Correct Normalization To Reduce Floods

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta DPRD has decided to cross out the budget for the construction of infiltration wells in the 2022 budget year budget. The chairman of Commission D of the DKI DPRD Ida Mahcepat views that infiltration wells are not effective in controlling flooding.

Thus, Ida said that the most effective flood control program carried out in the Capital City is river normalization. This serves to accommodate more water, both from local rain and from upstream.

“In my opinion, the most correct normalization, if it is carried out properly, surely the reduction in flooding will be significant. It is the most effective because it can hold more water,” said Ida in her statement, Friday, December 3.

Meanwhile, in the northern coastal area of Jakarta, Ida said that the right program to reduce the impact of floods, especially tidal waves, is the construction of strong embankments. According to him, these efforts can minimize material losses to residents around the coast.

"If on the north coast, the levees are still effective. Because every time there is a tidal wave, it always floods. So, the solution is to build a strong embankment as soon as possible," said Ida. Previously, the DKI Jakarta DPRD Budget Agency (Banggar) decided to drop the budget for making infiltration wells or vertical drainage proposed by the DKI Provincial Government in the DKI Regional Budget for the 2022 budget year.

Deputy Chairman of Commission D of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Nova Harivan Paloh, said that this decision was made at the last Banggar discussion, with the previous year's infiltration well budget being proposed at Rp120 billion.

"At the Banggar meeting, the final agreement (the infiltration well budget) was finally nullified. So now there are no more activities (funded by the APBD) for infiltration wells," Nova told reporters, Thursday, December 1.

Nova said that the abolition of the infiltration well budget next year was decided by the chairman of the DKI DPRD as well as the Banggar Chair of the DKI DPRD Prasetyo Edi Marsudi because he received complaints from a number of council members.

Several members of the DKI DPRD consider infiltration wells to be ineffective in helping to solve the flood problem in Jakarta. In the general view of the DPRD faction against the draft regional regulation of DKI regarding the 2022 budget year, last November 16, there were five factions that asked for infiltration wells to be evaluated.