JAKARTA - Rain is a blessing for the earth, don't just throw it into the sea, that's how Anies Baswedan describes his flood prevention concept: Sumur Resapan (infiltration wells). This program was later realized when Anies won the position of Governor of DKI Jakarta. Unfortunately, Sumur Resapan is not optimal. The water was still standing. Far from hope.

"Regarding water, the concept is vertical drainage. Rainwater is a blessing from Allah (God). The grace that was sent down to be included in the earth, not immediately sent to the sea", said Anies in the second round of the 2017 DKI Jakarta Regional Election Debate. We know, the concept of flood control by flowing water into the sea is a concept proposed by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok.

Last weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, February 20-21, Jakarta was again hit by floods. The DKI Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) recorded 193 RTs (Neighborhood Association)  affected and displacing thousands of residents.

Photo illustration (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

The DKI Provincial Government claims, until December 2020, they have made infiltration wells in 2,974 points. On the other hand, Deputy Chairperson of the DKI DPRD from Faction of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Zita Anjani explained the calculation that the achievements of the DKI Provincial Government were smaller. According to her, the provincial government has only made infiltration wells at 1,772 points.

Either way, the two claims are still far from being targeted by the DKI Provincial Government. In the 2017-2022 Mid-Term Regional Development Plan (RPJMD), the provincial government targets to build infiltration wells at 1.8 million points, with projections starting in 2020.

In detail, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government plans to build 60 infiltration wells in each RT. If calculated based on that, there should be 82,020 wells from 1,367 RT in Central Jakarta, 364,620 wells from 6,077 RT in South Jakarta, 311,940 wells from 5,199 RT in West Jakarta, and 428,160 wells from 7,136 RT in East Jakarta.

"My hope is as Chairman of Commission D until the position is completed Pak Anies (Governor of DKI) in 2022 according to his RPJMD because the RPJMD is IDR 1.8 million (Sumur Resapan points)", said Chairman of Commission D DPRD DKI Jakarta Ida Mahampang in September 2020.

Why is the infiltration well not optimal?

Infiltration well (Source: Pemprov DKI)

Chairman of the PDIP Faction DPRD DKI Gembong Warsono highlighted a number of Anies's flood control programs, including infiltration wells. According to Gembong, Anies was not really dealing with floods. Anies' five flood control programs - Gerebek LumpurSumur Resapan, maintenance of tidal flood handling pumps through the NCICD, and management of the polder system - according to Gembong will be in vain without river normalization.

"So when talking about flood handling as long as the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government cannot carry out normalization, I think it is difficult to overcome the flood problem. So, normalization is key", said Gembong to VOI, Friday, February 19.

"If the governor and deputy governor claim that flood control programs such as Gerebek Lumpur and Sumur Resapan are successful, it shouldn't be. So, whether mud raids have significant benefits for flood alleviation, I don't think so. But, yes, there are benefits", he added.

DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan monitors flood management (Twitter / @ aniesbaswedan)

According to Gembong, while Anies was in office, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has not carried out its real duties regarding the arrangement of rivers, both the normalization and naturalization programs. In fact, according to Gembong, Anies has budgeted land acquisition funds for the river naturalization or normalization program.

The funds come from the National Economic Recovery loan (PEN) from the central government. "In practice, there is no normalization yet. But, in the 2021 budget there is, through PEN funds, the DKI Provincial Government is already willing to start working on it (land acquisition)", he said.

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In a similar vein, the Executive Director of DKI Jakarta Walhi Tubagus Soleh Ahmadi said that infiltration wells cannot be relied on as a flood prevention strategy. Sumur Resapan generally functions as a substitute for water catchment areas that have become increasingly minimal due to development.

Sumur Resapan will not solve the problem of water overflow from rivers or extreme rainfall which continues to increase in intensity. According to Tubagus, river naturalization and strengthening synergy between local governments from upstream to downstream need to be done.

Jakarta floods (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

"The Jakarta flood problem is also caused by problems in the upstream area. For example, we often hear about the Bogor area. We know that in the upstream area, it has been a long time ago that forest areas and water catchment areas have been converted into tea plantations", he said, quoted by CNNIndonesia.com, Tuesday, February 23rd.

In accordance, indeed. Referring to the statement of DKI Jakarta Assistant for Development and Environment Yusmada Faizal, the drainage system can only accommodate rain with an intensity of 50 to 100 millimeters per day. Meanwhile, what happened yesterday, in the area of East Jakarta, for example, was the worst hit by the flood, the intensity of the rain was recorded at 160 millimeters.

"Please note, our drainage system is designed based on the rainfall of 50 to 100 milliliters per day. Hence, if there is extreme rain up to 160 millimeters, it will overflow", explained Faizal.

Regarding the slow progress of Sumur Resapan construction, the Head of DKI Jakarta Water Resources Agency Juani Yusuf said it was caused by a third party. "Yesterday why was it slow, because there were only two vendors. Now the vendors are processing them. We are expecting a hundred vendors", said Juani, when met by reporters at the DPRD DKI Jakarta Building, Monday, February 22.

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