DKI Deputy Governor Denies PSI Regarding River Normalization Budget Was Abolished

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria/Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria denied the statement from the PSI faction of the DKI DPRD regarding the river normalization budget was abolished in the 2019 APBD.

"The naturalization normalization program still exists. In fact, the budget is still there, starting from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, at the Water Resources Service, including the service with a high budget," said Riza at DKI City Hall, Central Jakarta, Thursday, November 11th.

Riza said that currently, the process of land acquisition in settlements along the river for normalization is still in progress. The budget has also been prepared.

He explained that there were 19 plots of land acquisition in Ciliwung River, 151 plots in Rajawati River, 18 plots in Pesanggrahan River, 68 plots in Sunter River, then 20 plots in Pondok Bambu Village.

Furthermore, there are also land acquisitions for 3 fields in Cipinang Muara, 10 plots in Gceng street, 1 plot in Kali Kramat, and 3 other fields which are in the process of deliberation.

"God willing, in November-December, several agreed areas can be completed," he said.

Therefore, Riza claims that the commitment of the DKI Provincial Government in preventing and controlling floods in the Capital City is quite large, even though there are some budget allocations during the pandemic.

"We always increase the existing budget. Indeed, in 2020-2021 there is a reduction due to refocusing, due to the COVID-19 pandemic there are several activities due to limited funds, they are reduced and continued in the following year," he said.

Previously, a member of the PSI faction of the DKI DPRD, Anggara Wicitra Sastroamidjojo, revealed that DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan canceled the budget for land acquisition for river normalization of Rp160 billion citing a budget deficit.

Actually, at the end of 2019, Anggara said that the DKI Water Resources Service was ready to pay for land acquisition for 118 plots of land on the banks of the Ciliwung River in the amount of Rp160 billion.

The payment is just waiting for the governor's decision (kepgub) regarding the determination of the location (location) to be released. However, the land acquisition was eventually canceled entirely on the pretext of a budget deficit.

However, in the same year, Anies submitted a loan to Bank DKI to pay the commitment fee for Formula E.

"This shows that Governor Anies is more concerned with car racing events than dealing with floods," said Anggara.