Jokowi Targets Ciliwung Normalization Over 2024, PUPR: It Really Depends On The DKI Provincial Government To Free Land

PHOTO: Screenshot of the Presidential Secretariat YouTube)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo is targeting the normalization of the Ciliwung River to be completed in 2024.

Responding to this, the Director General of Water Resources at the PUPR Ministry, Jarot Widyoko, said that the speed of normalization work depends on the performance of the DKI Provincial Government.

In the process of normalization, DKI Pemprov is tasked with freeing the land of residents who are on the riverbanks. After the land has been acquired, the PUPR Ministry will proceed with the construction of an embankment on the banks of the river which has been normalized.

Since 2014, work on river normalization has been carried out along 16 kilometres and then was halted for several years. From the 33-kilometre target, the government still has to normalize the 17-kilometre-long river.

"The target for completion for the 17 kilometres, we are very dependent on the DKI Provincial Government in acquiring land. We are very dependent on which areas are often flooded, which ones have been freed by the DKI Provincial Government, we will enter immediately", said Jarot, quoted in a YouTube broadcast Presidential Secretariat, Tuesday, February 21.

At the beginning of 2023, the PUPR Ministry will build a 500-meter embankment which will be part of the completion of the 17-kilometre-long river route. The river will be normalized to its initial condition with a width of 50 meters.

"Securing the total residue that we have to reduce, we minimize it for flood-affected areas. God willing, the construction of this 500-meter embankment will reduce the occurrence of inundation or inundation height of approximately 15 hectares", he said.

Today, President Joko Widodo reviewed the progress of the Ciliwung normalization project in Pengadegan, South Jakarta. Jokowi targets the normalization of the Ciliwung River to be completed in 2024.

"We hope, I gave the target earlier, in two years. That means, by the end of 2024 (work is complete) the 17 kilos, God willing, will be completed. So, the normalization of the Ciliwung River is really complete", Jokowi said.

Jokowi said that the normalization of Ciliwung had stalled for several years. The normalization of Ciliwung was continued during the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono.

When he took office to replace Anies Baswedan, Heru immediately planned to acquire land for several plots in Rawajati, South Jakarta. Then, the normalization of construction work was continued by the PUPR Ministry.

"After stopping for a while, we will start immediately. Because there have been several points that have been freed, for example in Rawajati, construction can begin immediately, the sheetpile will be handled by the Ministry of Public Works", said Jokowi.

Meanwhile, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government will acquire 6.5 hectares of land on the banks of the Ciliwung River this year. Head of the Data and Information Service Unit for DKI Jakarta Water Resources (SDA) Office, Roedito said, this year's land acquisition will be in four sub-districts, namely Cililitan, Rawajati, Cawang, and Kampung Melayu.

"It is estimated (land acquisition) in Cililitan Village that it will cover 0.8 hectares, Rawajati 1.5 hectares, Cawang 2.25 hectares, and Kampung Melayu 1.95 hectares", said Roedito when contacted.

The land acquisition budget is allocated from the 2023 APBD. After the land acquisition is carried out, the government will build an embankment (sheetpile) with a river route length of 4.3 kilometres.

In detail, the embankment in Kampung Melayu Village is 1.3 kilometers long, 1 kilometer in Rawajati, 1.5 kilometers in Cawang, and 0.5 kilometers in Cililitan.

"The allocation (land acquisition) in the budget implementation document (DPA) for 2023 is around IDR 496 billion", he said.