TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Governor Anies Baswedan’s proposal to purchase 6 sets of loudspeakers worth Rp4 billion functioned as Jakarta’s flood early warning system is met with firm rejection from a member of the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD), William Aditya.

The DPRD member from the Indonesia Solidarity Party (PSI) argues that the city’s administration should develop an advanced warning system for floods, rather than relying on technology he considers a relic of world war two.

“A mobile gadget app should be much more effective and cheaper compared to installing loudspeakers where people can only hear up to 500-meters in its vicinity,” said William in a written statement on Thursday.

William said flood warning systems that are based on mobile apps or short message services (SMS) have been long used in many countries. He also said that this system is much more effective.

“How could a metropolitan area such as Jakarta with an IT budget reaching trillions of rupiah intend to use an ancient warning system technology,” said William Aditya.

The Jakarta Administration previously announced its plans to purchase loudspeakers they dub as a disaster warning system (DWS) which will later be installed in flood-prone areas. The loudspeakers will be equipped with additional technology such as an automatic weather sensor (AWS) and an automatic water level recorder (AWLR).

This early flood warning system is also sought to be connected with an existing early warning system from Jakarta’s disaster mitigation agency (BPBD).

Governor Anies Baswedan previously argued that the city’s announcement on new year’s day flash flood was not effective. City officials informed about the impending flood through social media.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH