Clogged sluice gates almost impossible to fix, say officials

Mustaqim Adamrah and Ikram Putra
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Officials have said they are powerless to do anything about the trash that constantly clogs the sluice gate in Manggarai, South Jakarta.

Extra staff have been put on to man the gate, which is crucial to warding off flooding in the city.

An operator at the Manggarai sluice gate, Parjono, said Tuesday that while there had previously only been one staff member managing the gate, there were now three staff on at any time.

"We don't dare to have less than that these days," he said.

The Manggarai sluice gate can contain water up to a depth of 9.5 meters, the deepest in the city and almost a meter above sea level. But on Monday it was clogged with garbage carried along the Ciliwung River.

Trash that blocked sluice gates is regarded as one of the prime causes of the massive floods that paralyzed Jakarta early this year, killing 48 people and causing up to Rp 12 trillion (US$1.3 billion) in damages.

Parjono said the water level at the Manggarai gate had already risen since the start of the rainy season.

He said the river was too small to contain the water flow, and this combined with a lack of proper drainage and the tendency of the city's residents to dump garbage in the water caused flooding in the capital.

"With the way things are going right now though, I don't think we'll ever be flood-free," he said.

The city administration has also blamed flooding on residents who dump garbage in the rivers and live on the banks.

The head of the water resources and beach development division at the Jakarta Public Works Agency, I Gde Nyoman Soeandhi, said the city would have less flooding "if only no more people litter and throw garbage into rivers, as well as living on riverbanks".

He said those living on riverbanks were occupying land that was meant to be a water catchment area.

There are 5,911 hectares of green space, out of 66,126 hectares in Jakarta's total area.

Nyoman said the administration "is working hard and using all resources it has and also has set aside Rp 270 billion this year to mitigate floods".

The money is being used to reshape riverbanks that have had shelters built on them and dredging rivers, as well as procuring new and repairing broken water pumps at a number of pump stations.

However, the director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment's Jakarta chapter, Slamet Daroyni, said the administration was also responsible for having allowed businesses to build in green spaces, although he added that riverbank squatters were also to blame.

"Now, Pantai Indah Kapuk housing complex in North Jakarta used to be (the protected Muara Angke) mangrove forest in addition to a living environment, which has become Cibubur Junction in East Jakarta," he said.

"It's ironic. Even now there's an ongoing apartment construction in South Jakarta on one side of Krukut River. The river's width, which used to be 14 meters, has now become only four meters, thanks to the apartment's construction."

Meanwhile, the Depok city administration has said residents should not rely on them too much during the coming flood season due to some limitations facing the administration.

Welman Naipospos, head of the water recourses division at Depok Public Works Agency, said the public must take an active role to prevent flooding.

"I sent letters to every district and subdistrict to ask people to clean up drainage ways around neighborhood," Welman said, adding that poorly maintained drainage was the main cause of floods in Depok.

Located 70 meters above sea level, Depok is home to the last gate of the Ciliwung River before it enters Jakarta.