Dredging The Mud Of The Old Ciliwung River So That Floods Send Smoothly To The Sea

Excavators in the Old Ciliwung River to dredge up mud/ Photo: IST

The dredging of mud joints in the Old Ciliwung River which crosses the Central Jakarta area along 12.2 Kilometers is still being carried out by officers from the Central Jakarta Water Resources Sub-dept. (SDA Sub-Department) by deploying 8 excavator equipment units.

The process of dredging the mud sediment in the Old Ciliwung River is divided into 5 segments of the area with a length of 12.2 Kilometers. In the Kwitang area, Senen District, two excavator equipment were deployed to dredge mud on Thursday, July 13, morning.

Meanwhile, the dump truck carrying mud from the dredging of the Ciliwung Lama River, then came to pick up the mud load and dumped it in the Ancol area, North Jakarta. Before the dredging of the mud was carried out, the condition of the Ciliwung Lama River had been silting since several years ago.

"Of course, with this dredging, we hope to reduce or send water from upstream or in other words, the flooding can be smooth to the sea, that's our hope," said Head of the Central Jakarta Water Resources (SDA) Sub-dept., Mustajab when confirmed by VOI, Thursday, July 13.

Please note, the Old Ciliwung River in the Central Jakarta area starts from the boundary of the Manggarai floodgate to the Palace. The flow of the Old Ciliwung River leads upstream to the sea in the North Jakarta area. However, the limit for the Ciliwung Lama River flow area in Central Jakarta is only near the railroad tracks (KA) Jalan Gunung Sahari, Sawah Besar District, Central Jakarta.

"We are dredging the Old Ciliwung River with a total length of 12.2 kilometers which is divided into 5 segments (dredging work). If this (small) can be dredged between 2 and 2.5 meters, it is extraordinary. This old Ciliwung River can deliver or drain water discharges of approximately 397 cubic meters per second," he said.

With the flow of water discharge of around 397 cubic meters per second, Mustajab explained, later it can reduce (water discharge) in the Hulu section.

"For example (if there is a flood) in Kampung Melayu, we will lower (debt water) using the Old Ciliwung River. Even though the Ciliwung River is channeled towards the West Flood Canal (KBB), it can be done (streamed through the Old Ciliwung River)," he said.

The process of transporting and dumping mud from the Old Ciliwung River was carried out using 20 dump trucks prepared by the Central Jakarta SDA Sub-dept. at the location. Currently, the volume of mud that has been dumped is about 21,000 cubic meters of mud.

"Dump trucks transporting mud to Ancol every day is at least 15 dump trucks. I ask that every day there are at least 20 trucks (sludge disposal). Meanwhile, there are 8 excavators deployed for dredging," he said.

Until now, the process of dredging mud is still ongoing. The work on dredging mud takes quite a long time because the total length of the Ciliwung Lama River reaches 12.2 Kilometers.

"We are still in this progress stage, because it is 12.2 km long, we need enough time," he said.