Ahok: Bidara Cina Court Victory Hampers Flood Mitigation Efforts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said that the lawsuit filed by Bidara Cina residents are a serious threat to the completion of the underground canal that will act as an inlet for water from Ciliwung River to flow into the Jakarta's East Flood Canal (BKT) system.

To date, only one tunnel boring machine has been deployed to bore the inlet - while the other one has remained non-operational, due to the ongoing lawsuit.

"A lawsuit hampers the progress of any project," said Basuki, at the City Hall on Thursday, April 28, 2016. "There are two tunnel boring machines - not unlike the ones that are used in the same manner as the ones deployed in the MRT project - but we can't deploy the other machine because the location where the machine will be deployed is still subject to an ongoing litigation."

Basuki, who is commonly referred to as Ahok, said that the Mayor of East Jakarta was not firm in his stance when the administration was beginning to move to clear out the area to make way for the construction of the inlet. According to Ahok, the Mayor did not need to wax and wane in his negotiation with Bidara Cina residents, especially considering that the land being disputed is - according to Ahok - owned by the state, who is willing to compensate residents that will be affected by the project.

The project - which is meant to reduce the risk of floods in the capital - is spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, but the day-to-day execution and supervision of the project is done by the Ciliiwung-Cisadane River Agency. "As you can see, even though it has not yet been completed, this year's flooding has not been as bad as before - because we managed to divert around 60 cubic metres per second from the Ciliwung River to the BKT," said Ahok.

Bidara Cina residents won a lawsuit that they filed  at the State Administrative Court (PTUN), basing their legal argument on Gubernatorial Decree No. 2779/2015 - which effectively puts that the total area that will be affected by the construction of the inlet amounts to 10,357 square metres, which contradicts the previous Gubernatorial Decree No. 81/2014, which was issued on January 14, 2016, which places the figure at 6,095.94 square metre

The residents lawsuit was granted on the grounds that the expansion of the affected area was not socialised properly on Monday, April 25, 2016 - under ruling No.59/6/20166/PTUN-JKT.

MAWARDAH NUR HANIFIYANI