Surabaya City Government Examines Dutch Heritage Culverts To Minimize Floods

SURABAYA - The Surabaya City Government in East Java Province traced the Dutch heritage culverts from the Jalan Embong Malang area to the Kalimas Harbor in order to re-enable the canals that were built in the past to reduce the risk of flooding in the city center when heavy rains fell.

Head of the Surabaya City Water Resources and Highways Service, Lilik Arijanto, said the agency prioritized tracing Dutch heritage culverts in the Blauran to Kranggan area.

"Because every time it rains, the area always floods. So far, the disposal has been in Bozem Morokrembangan. The upstream is there, so it's very far," said Lilik, as quoted by Antara, Thursday, June 30.

If the Dutch culverts in the area in front of Kranggan can be found, then slashing will be carried out to divert the flow of water to the culverts.

"So, go there, connect to Embong Malang and then enter the Jalan Kenari pump house," he said.

Lilik said the agency did not have a blueprint for the Dutch building, but received information that the Dutch had built culverts up to the port area and in the past these culverts were used by political prisoners in the Kalifigur prison to escape.

"The place is very large. We are currently still massaging from Embong Malang. The point is that we are currently looking for alternative disposal to the Dutch culverts," he said.

"Dutch culverts can return to functioning like the canals in the past and need to be normalized, the main thing (can be) significant results," he continued.

According to Lilik, the idea of tracing and re-functioning the culverts left by the Dutch has actually been around for a long time.

However, the search for culverts is only now being carried out by opening culverts in the Jalan Embong Malang area.

"The end has been found, but if it reaches the upper reaches, it must be sorted, because all the roads are under the road. On average, all Dutch buildings are in the middle of the road," he said.

Lilik revealed that the culverts built by the Dutch in the past were of various widths.

"It's the biggest, but it's getting smaller and smaller. But if it's towards the port, it gets bigger, depending on the volume of water discharge," he said, referring to the Dutch heritage culverts in the Jalan Kenari area.

In addition to trying to re-function the culverts left by the Dutch, the Surabaya City Government plans to build two pump houses to deal with flooding in the Jalan Pahlawan area and its surroundings.