Pro-Contra Sumur Infiltration Jakarta, How Effective? How Come Anies Asks To Continue

Jakarta infiltration well (Photo from Antara)

YOGYAKARTA - Heru Budi Hartono, Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta for the term of 2023, said that he would continue the infiltration well program made by Anies Baswedan. Until now, the Jakarta infiltration well program has drawn contras from various parties because it is considered ineffective in preventing flooding.

However, Heru Budi assessed that infiltration wells are a good program and he will still use them to deal with flooding. After the inauguration, Heru also said that flood management in Jakarta was one of his work discourses.

To carry out the program, he will conduct discussions and coordinate with a number of parties, such as the DPRD, Ministry of PUPR, Regional Secretary, and the Department of Transportation.

"All programs are good, of course infiltration wells can be used for areas that are concave, the times above, the areas below. We'll see later, the discussion with the chairman of the DPRD later," said Heru Budi at City Hall, Monday (17/10).

Anies Baswedan asked the Governor of DKI Jakarta who took office after increasing the number of infiltration wells. Anies said infiltration wells play a very important role in flood management in Jakarta. During his tenure, he targeted the construction of 1.8 million infiltration wells.

The instructions are contained in Governor Regulation (Pergub) Number 25 of 2022 concerning the DKI Jakarta Regional Development Plan (RPD) for 2023-2026 which was signed by Anies on June 10, 2022.

Anies also said that water flowing from south of Jakarta to north of Jakarta could be detained longer by building reservoirs and adding infiltration wells in the South Jakarta area.

The infiltration well program carried out by Anies Baswedan received a negative assessment from a number of parties. Prasetyo Edi Marsudi, chairman of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, said that infiltration wells are a good program but are still not appropriate. He assessed that the construction of the infiltration well was misplaced because it was located on the side of the road.

Prasetyo Edi was even once the party that strongly rejected the infiltration well program. This PDIP politician even proposed the abolition of the budget for the construction of infiltration wells in the 2022 DKI Regional Budget. He considered that infiltration wells were useless to deal with flooding.

The ineffective assessment of infiltration wells also came from the Secretary of DKI Jakarta, Marullah Matali. He revealed that infiltration wells have not significantly overcome flooding in Jakarta. However, Marullah said infiltration wells still have an influence in flood management.

Yayat Supriatna, a city planning observer from Trisasti University, also believes in terms of infiltration wells. Yayat program infiltration wells are less effective in dealing with flooding in Jakarta. Yayat explained that the level of effectiveness is not optimal because the soil conditions in Jakarta are already saturated. Yayat hopes that the DKI Provincial Government will take another approach to making infiltration wells more useful.

Furthermore, Yayat said that the construction of infiltration wells must pay attention to the absorption capacity of the soil.

"The approach is to the Center for Land, which has data on which areas the absorption is still good. So the infiltration well approach if it can be based on data on soil conditions. Can the land absorb it, unfortunately, has spent money, budget, not optimal and only become a reservoir well," he said.

The new governor of DKI Jakarta must evaluate the infiltration well program. According to him, the Governor can stop programs that are considered to have no effectiveness in dealing with floods. So that the Provincial Government can create a new program that is more appropriate for flood management.

Those are various assessments regarding how effective Jakarta's infiltration wells are, which Anies Baswedan relies on to overcome flooding. Regarding the continuation of the program, Heru Budi Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta will discuss in-depth with the DPRD.

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