East Kalimantan Provincial Government Assists Samarinda Flood Management, From River Normalization To Drainage

The normalization of the Karang Asam Besar Samarinda River by the East Kalimantan PUPR Office in an effort to control floods in Samarinda City (Management Adm Bureau of East Kalimantan Provincial Government)

SAMARINDA - The Provincial Government of East Kalimantan is helping to control floods in Samarinda City by normalizing rivers and increasing drainage capacity as a cause of waterlogging.

Head of Public Works, Spatial Planning and Public Housing (PUPR Pera) of East Kalimantan Province, Aji Muhammad Fitra Firnanda, said that the Provincial Government of East Kalimantan had carried out a number of flood control activities, including the normalization of the Karang Asam Besar River.

According to Nanda, his nickname, the normalization of the Karang Asam Besar River will be carried out from 2020 to 2022.

The progress of handling the normalization of the Karang Asam Besar River until the end of December 2022 has reached 85 percent. Namely, out of a total of 9 km, normalization has been carried out along 7.5 km. The remaining 1.5 km of work is in the segment around Kedondong Market.

Another activity carried out is the normalization of the Karang Asam Besar sub-watershed (DAS) to Karang Mulya Street for 4 km.

"The impact of handling the normalization of the river is quite significant, namely the area in the Lok Bahu Subdistrict area which is often prone to flooding due to runoff from the Karang Asam Besar River, if the duration of rain reaches 80 mm, September 2022 from the observation of the Karang Paci rainfall post 88 mm there will be no inundation flooding in the area," said Aji Firnanda as reported by ANTARA, Sunday, February 5.

Nanda explained, for the work of normalizing the Karang Asam Besar River in 2020, the East Kalimantan Provincial Government has allocated IDR 1.8 billion. Then in 2021, it will be IDR 8.4 billion and IDR 2.5 billion will be allocated in 2022.

"In 2023, our budget plan is to prepare IDR 1.5 billion for the normalization of the Karang Asam Besar River," added Nanda.

Another important support made by the East Kalimantan Provincial Government for flood management in Samarinda City is the construction of a drainage canal on DI Panjaitan Street.

According to him, Panjaitan Street is considered very important because it is an important access to APT Pranoto Airport and national road access to the northern region of East Kalimantan Province. Floods often occur here, hindering access for road users.

"We are building a drainage channel 1.3 km long with dimensions of 4 meters wide and an average depth of 2 meters. Until now, the drainage construction on DI Panjaitan Street has been built along 1.1 km," said Nanda.

The drainage channel on DI Panjaitan Street is targeted to be completed this year. This drainage canal construction activity has been carried out since 2020. With details in 2020, it will be IDR 18.6 billion, in 2021 it will be IDR 4 billion and in 2022 it will be IDR 8.7 billion.

"For drainage on DI Panjaitan Street, this year we have prepared IDR 4.5 billion. Hopefully, the floods can be controlled more so that they don't interfere with people's access to and from Samarinda," hoped Nanda.

In addition, the normalization and strengthening of the Talang Sari River cliffs were also carried out. This river is part of the Karang Mumus River Sub-watershed.

The normalization and strengthening of the Talang Sari River cliffs is being carried out for flood control in the North Samarinda District area and suppressing flood inundation on DI Panjaitan Street which will be carried out from 2019 and 2021.

In 2022, the normalization of the Mati River, which is the outlet of the Talang Sari River, will also be carried out by opening the Mati River alignment. The opening of this route is expected to reduce flooding that often occurs in the North Samarinda area and DI Panjaitan Street.

The value of this project work in 2019 was IDR 2 billion, in 2021 it was IDR 932 million and in 2022 it was allocated IDR 1.2 billion.

Other work was also carried out for the construction of drainage for Pemuda III Street Sentosa Sub System - Youth - Ahmad Yani (Semani).

This work is to increase the capacity of the drainage flow from the Semani system to the Karang Mumus River, especially in the Pemuda Street area.

For the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year, the construction of the 400 meter long Pemuda III Street drainage has been carried out.

The 2023 budget plan will continue with the construction of drainage on Pemuda IV Street. The value of work in 2021 is IDR 2.6 billion, in 2022 it is IDR 1.6 billion and plans for 2023 are IDR 5.5 billion.