Five Homework For The New Head Of Water Resources Service Office To Fix Floods In Jakarta

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has just appointed Yusmada Faizal as Head of the Water Resources (SDA) Service. The SDA Office is a regional work unit (SDA) that handles the development and security of water resources. One of them, the flood control program.

The rainy season is a big momentum for Yusmada to clean up. The threat of flooding still haunts. At least, there is five homework that must be done by Yusmada to minimize the impact of the floods.

Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria admitted that the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government cannot work alone. DKI needs assistance from the central government to intensify flood control programs, especially river normalization.

Therefore, Justin Untayana, Deputy Chairperson of the PSI of Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) DKI Faction, said that the first homework that DKI should do is to improve communication with the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR).

For a long time, DKI has been tasked with acquiring land for residents who live along riverbanks. Meanwhile, the PUPR Ministry is working on the normalization construction.

"In recent years, the cooperation between the DKI Provincial Government and the PUPR Ministry is considered to have been less than smooth. I heard that the PUPR Ministry finds it difficult to invite the DKI Provincial Government to coordinate on the development plans in Jakarta. I hope the Governor and his staff leave their personal matters for the benefit of the people", Justin said in a statement. his statement, Wednesday, February 24.

After improving coordination, the second homework for Yusmada was to accelerate land acquisition for river normalization. Unfortunately, from 2018 to 2021 the PUPR Ministry could not carry out river normalization development due to very slow land acquisition.

"From field observation, floods in East Jakarta are caused by overflowing rivers that have not been normalized. The Housing Service has prepared thousands of flats for the relocation of residents, so there is no more reason to delay land acquisition", said Justin.

The third homework, DKI must accelerate the construction of the embankment in Muara Angke. DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan admitted that Krukut River and Mampang River water cannot immediately flow to the West Flood Canal (KBB) because the surface is still high. As a result, it took a long time to reduce standing water.

Therefore, Justin said that the downstream side of the KBB, namely Muara Angke, must be widened. "The downstream flow in Muara Angke is very narrow. Only 20-30 meters. Thus, it is prone to backflow during high tide. DKI Provincial Government needs to immediately carry out normalization so that its width is 110 meters, build embankments, and build a pump station in Muara Angke", he explained.

The fourth homework, Justin asked DKI to normalize Krukut river and Mampang river. During the flood a few days ago, the overflow of Krukut and Mampang Rivers resulted in a number of settlements being flooded.

"To prevent flooding from occurring again, the DKI Provincial Government needs to normalize Krukut and Mampang Rivers so that they are able to handle extreme rainfall above 150 mm per day. Indeed, this is not easy, but keep in mind that the DKI Pemprov has a Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) of more than IDR 0 trillion which is the largest in Indonesia", he said.

The fifth homework, Yusmada must rearrange the budget priorities for flood management. Justin sees that there are two budget items that are considered less urgent. The first is the construction of infiltration wells amounting to IDR 411.4 billion and the arrangement of rivers in Kali Besar and Pasar Baru.

Concerning infiltration wells, Justin revealed that the SDA Service has not yet been able to explain the results of a study on the points to be built for infiltration wells. "Do not let this budget be merely to meet the target number of points, but it has no impact on overcoming floods", said Justin.

Meanwhile, the river arrangement in Big River and Pasar Baru amounted to IDR 180 billion, according to Justin, it is not urgent because it is wide.

"I suggest that the budget for the construction of infiltration wells and river arrangement totaling IDR 591 billion be diverted for river normalization and the construction of pumping stations", he concluded.