Balikpapan Often Floods, City Government Prepares 3 Pumps Worth IDR 10 Billion

Floods on Jalan Beller, Balikpapan, in the 2019 rainy season, are the worst flood points in the City of Oil. (ANTARA/novi abdi)

BALIKPAPAN - The City Government of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan is preparing a mobile pump as an effort to deal with flooding. It is hoped that the pump will be available before the rainy season this year.

"We will provide 3 units with a total price of Rp. 10 billion," said Head of the Public Works Agency, Andi Yusri Ramli, as quoted by Antara, Thursday, April 14.

The pumps will be alerted at points prone to flooding, such as in the Damai area. As the unit moves, it can also be shifted to other locations where it is needed.

According to Yusri, the pumps are to help speed up the reduction in water volume, so that it can prevent inundation from occurring, or vice versa, namely accelerating the receding of water in inundated locations.

As a permanent solution, as has been planned for a long time, the City Government will maximize the Ampal River starting from its estuary in the Damai area which is prone to flooding to its upstream part in the Kampung Timur Reservoir and the channels that lead to the river, such as ditches from the hills north of Balikpapan. New, Wika housing, and Batu Ampar area.

The Ampar River will be widened and its banks made permanent at a cost of Rp. 145 billion from the multi-year budget until 2023.

According to Yusri, the project is targeted to start this year at a number of points on the Ampal River. That way, he hopes that by 2023 the Balikpapan flood point will be reduced.

Yusri said that the flooding in Balikpapan, especially in the eastern and southern parts, was the result of community activities in the north that changed the landscape and or its function.

From inspections by members of the Balikpapan DPRD to the Grand City housing estate on Jalan MT Harjono, for example, it was stated that the existence of the existing bozem or water reservoir is not in accordance with the provisions. next to it, in addition to increasing the volume of water that descends to the East Village.

"There are booms at 4 points, but (from the extent) they cannot be flood controllers," said member of Commission III of the Balikpapan DPRD, Syarifuddin Oddang.