Banjarmasin Is The 'City Of A Thousand Rivers', Which Has Lost Its Rivers Until The Flood Comes

Stagnant water on the Banjarmasin road (ANTARA)

BANJARMASIN - Social and Public Policy Observer from Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) Prof. Dr. H Budi Suryadi said that the city of Banjarmasin, which is nicknamed "the City of a Thousand Rivers", has now lost many of its rivers. As a result, flooding occurs when the rain continues to flush.

"Many small rivers have died or are not functioning because they are closed by villages or have silting," he said in Banjarmasin, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 20.

Budi highlighted the allegation of poor drains or drainage. Given the water that has stagnated in almost every corner of the city has not subsided even though in the last five days it has not rained.

"What is it. How can the water not recede even though the rain is no longer falling. Moreover, water is stagnant on the main access road for the community," said the ULM Professor of Social and Political Affairs.

According to Budi, this year's flood in Banjarmasin as the capital of South Kalimantan Province has also been exacerbated by delays in anticipating and overcoming it.

"Do we just rely on the weather to pray that it doesn't rain while hoping that the water will recede by itself. There should be concrete efforts, such as suctioning stagnant water or checking all water channels to ensure smooth operation," he said.

On the other hand, Budi sees that the policies so far have tended to favor physical development, so that the water space for swamps is decreasing and this is not accompanied by a good drainage system and river arrangement that is not as wide as it used to be, which is functioning normally.

Even if there is a policy of houses on stilts or building on stilts, he said, it has only been a few years when a physical building without a stage has been established which automatically eliminates the water space, so that water spills everywhere when it rains with high intensity.

Based on the observation on Wednesday, water was still standing with varying heights on the national road on Jalan Ahmad Yani, from kilometer 4 in Banjarmasin City to kilometer 9 in Banjar Regency. Traffic flow becomes disrupted due to vehicle slowdown. Not a few motorbikes broke down because they were desperate to break through the flood.

A number of other roads in the city center of Banjarmasin were also flooded, such as Jalan Pramuka, which was in quite bad condition. In fact, many residential residents were also affected by the worst flooding in the history of the tidal disaster so that the Banjarmasin City Government declared a flood emergency response status.