TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The plan to build a giant seawall to prevent flooding in Jakarta might be cancelled. Jakarta deputy governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, said the project must be reviewed.
"It is better to build an embankment just like the one we have in Pantai Indah Kapuk," Ahok said at the City Hall yesterday.
According to Ahok, the giant seawall project would reclaim 1,080 hectares of Jakarta's beach. Ahok said flooding problems could not be resolved by building levees downstream. "We must first work on the construction of reservoirs in upstream areas."
Andi Baso Mappapoleonro, head of Jakarta's Development Planning Agency, said the megaprojects, part of the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) program, should be reviewed.
One of the goals of the project is to solve flooding in the capital. However, he said, the current concept focuses on downstream development only, whereas, the cause of flooding in Jakarta "came from upstream and we have yet to explore [that area] in details," he said.
ERWAN HERMAWAN