Indonesian capital braces for more floods

Channel NewsAsia 5 Feb 08;

JAKARTA : Jakarta is bracing for more floods after last weekend's downpour paralysed many parts of the Indonesian capital.

Meteorologists say more heavy rain is expected this month.

City authorities have stepped up measures to reduce the impact of the floods but environmental groups are not convinced the efforts will work.

The main roads linking Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport and the city centre have finally reopened.

Workers worked tirelessly for the past three days to pump flood water from the road to a nearby canal.

Heavy downpour on Friday submerged a segment of an expressway in chest-deep water, making it impassable to all vehicles.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded at the airport.

Hundreds of flights in and out of Jakarta were disrupted, leaving many airlines counting their losses.

More than 3,000 residents were also forced to leave their homes.

Environmental groups say such floods will be a permanent feature in Jakarta during heavy downpours, because the capital has lost most of its green areas and water catchments to excessive development.

Selamet Daroyni, Executive Director of Indonesia's Environment Group, said:
"The opened green areas for water catchments is only 9 percent. It can only absorb 26 percent of the average annual rainfall of 2 billion cubic metres. The remainder escaped to low-lying areas."

The capital's poor drainage system has made matters worse.

And existing canals are not able to accommodate the heavy rainfall because they are clogged with debris.

Jakarta authorities say they plan to expedite the building of two flood canals in the capital.

But environmental groups doubt the measures will work.

Selamet Daroyni added: "Even with the completion of the east and west flood canals, they can only reduce floods by not more than 20 percent. We will still experience flood soon after the canals are completed."

Environmentalists say the long-term solution lies in the restoration of Jakarta's catchments areas which have been lost to development.

According to them, the first step is to carry out an environmental audit.

Until that happens, floods can be expected in many parts of the capital after 30 minutes of continuous downpour. - CNA/de