DPRD Surabaya Questions Flood Handling Using PMK Cars

Member of Commission C DPRD Surabaya William Wirakusuma reviews flood management/Photo: Antara

SURABAYA - The flood management carried out by the Surabaya City Government, East Java, by using a fire engine to suck up water during a flood has drawn attention from members of Commission C for the Development of the local DPRD.

"How come the flood is sucked up using a PMK (fire engine) car. The pump capacity can still be optimized," said Surabaya DPRD Commission C member William Wirakusuma in Surabaya, Wednesday, March 30.

It is known that the Mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi, asked the Surabaya Fire and Rescue Service (PMKP) to enter several PMK cars to draw water in the alleys of residents' houses to dispose of water during floods due to heavy rains in the Wiyung and Dharma Husada areas some time ago.

According to William, his party pays special attention to the operation of the water pumps owned by the City of Surabaya during 2021. This was conveyed by William in the discussion of the 2021 Mayor's Accountability Report (LKPJ).

He said that his party had long conveyed since 2019, that the pumps owned by the City of Surabaya must be operated according to the pump's capabilities.

"In the field, I found that the pump was turned on with a setting below the pump's capacity," he said as quoted by Antara.

In addition, he continued, Surabaya, as the second-largest city in Indonesia, should not be used during a flood to deploy PMK cars to suck up water during a flood, even though the pump capacity is still sufficient.

Moreover, he said, the pumps owned by the Surabaya City Government are pumps with good quality.

"The flood pump owned by the city of Surabaya is not an arbitrary brand, the quality is good and the market leader in the pumping world," he said.

For this reason, in 2022, William asks that all pumps can be maximized and that in each pump house there is a pump technician who is always on guard at all times, especially when it rains.

Head of the Surabaya City Water Resources and Highways Service, Lilik Arjanto, said that setting the pump with these conditions is for efficiency and to maintain pump life time. In addition, said Lilik, the condition of the drains in Surabaya is a danger to the pump.