Ahok Dismisses Claim of City Flood Mitigation Plan a Failure

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Anies Baswedan on Monday visited an area inundated with flood waters in Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta. During the visit, Anies called Jakarta administration’s flood mitigation program a failure.

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was quick to respond to the remark. According to Ahok, Jakarta administration’s success in implementing the program was visible. “Flood-prone areas in Jakarta continues to diminish over the past few years,” Ahok said during a visit to Komplek Garuda in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta.

Ahok said that governor-elect would have to normalize rivers to address flooding problems. “If God allows Pak Anies to become Jakarta governor and he [promised] not to normalize [the rivers] as I’m doing right now, that would be a lie,” Ahok said.

According to him, river normalization carried out during his tenure has significantly reduced the number of flood-prone areas in Jakarta from 2,200 in 2012 to 80 in 2016. “The math is simple: reduced number of disasters from 2,000 to 80 means that I have been successful,” Ahok said.

Ahok said that he works with professionals in Jakarta river normalization plans, such as the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry and Ciliwung Cisadane River Riparian Areas Central Agency (BWSCC). “A failed normalization would mean that the smart guys in this country were wrong,” he said.

Therefore, Ahok asserted that river normalization must continue because it was the right solution to address flooding problems faced by the capital city. “Do you prefer flooding or normalization? So, if one says that they don’t expect to flood but is against normalization, I don’t know what their thinking process was. I have held talks with the Public Works Ministry. If you have any other theory, it means that the Public Works Ministry was wrong, right? It [Anies’ statement] was only a campaign rhetoric,” he said.

LANI DIANA | SSN