Anies Baswedan, DPRD Share Same View on Causes of Floods

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Legislative Council or DPRD deputy speaker Muhammad Taufik said one of the attributable factors of the recent massive flooding in the capital was the rising water level in Katulampa Dam, Bogor.

“The floods came from the upstream. Water from Katulampa flowed to Jakarta and not accommodated so that became overflow,” said Taufik via a phone call on Monday, January 6.

According to Taufik, the flood submissions from the upstream could be seen visibly. Thus every time the water level in Katulampa increased, several areas in Ciliwung river banks would likely be submerged.

“So we will later discuss this together," Taufik said. "We will build a reservoir on the left and right side of Katulampa waterways. We will support the financing."

Previously, city governor Anies Baswedan stated that floods in Jakarta were sent from upstream rivers in Bogor Regency. He opined that should Bogor administration could control the water, the city would not be inundated.

Responding to that, Bogor Regent Ade Yasin said her side had worked hard to do every effort starting from river normalization to cleaning-up lakes program to collect water. Ade admitted she found it strange that she was still blamed for the natural disaster and was also surprised that Anies Baswedan mentioned Jakarta flooding was due to overflowed waters from Bogor.

"Don't blame each other, each regional head should focus on existing problems in their respective area," said Ade.

IMAM HAMDI