By: Ahmad Prasetyo) *
The Central Government has issued instructions to deal with Jakarta floods. The Governor of DKI Jakarta, Anies Baswedan was asked to carry out the President’s instructions to make efforts to normalize and naturalize the river as an anticipatory measure for flooding.
After a lot of gossip about Anies performance that misses the point. Now, President Jokowi firmly instructed to carry out the normalization and naturalization steps of the river as a countermeasure for the 2020 floods that hit the city of Jakarta. However, it seems that the Governor is still “grumpy” because he considers that the two steps are a program of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing. In fact, Anies asked the river normalization and naturalization questions should be asked directly to the Minister of PUPR, Basuki Hadimuljono.
Anies added, if the two efforts were long-term projects that needed to be carried out together with the Ministry of PUPR. However, he later said, later the DKI Jakarta Government together with the Ministry of PUPR will jointly solve problems from upstream to downstream of the river.
Jokowi asked that the rivers in Jakarta need to be normalized again so that the water flow can be normal. He also mentioned that the Ciliwung River sodetan which was heading to the East Flood Canal (BKT) was immediately resolved. In addition, he also touched on the issue of land acquisition which has been an obstacle so far to be resolved immediately.
President Jokowi also invited regional heads in the Banten, DKI Jakarta and West Java regions to evaluate the total flood control system. Jokowi rate, Indonesia must have a short, medium and long term big strategy in dealing with this flood problem.
He also asked that the cooperation between the central government and the provincial and district / city governments be able to run well. He is optimistic that if all parties work well together, the problem of floods that always come every rainy season will be overcome.
Previously, President Joko Widodo conveyed a number of instructions relating to flood management in Jabodetabek. This was conveyed by Jokowi in a flood management meeting with the affected regional head and related ministers at the Merdeka Palace.
The first instruction is that reforestation should be done immediately, not only tree plants, but plants that can prevent erosion, such as vetiver.
Second, Jokowi requested that the construction of the project on the Sukamahi and Ciawi dams in the upstream area be accelerated. Because, two dams located in West Java can reduce the flood of shipments in Jakarta originating from the Bogor region.
Third, Jokowi instructed that the Ciliwung River to the East Flood Canal (BKT) be completed this year. It should be noted that the project for the construction of the sodetan was previously constrained by land acquisition issues.
Jokowi also mentioned that DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had a discussion with the local community regarding this matter. So, it is expected that land acquisition of around 600 meters can be realized soon.
Meanwhile, Basuki Hadimuljono as Minister of PUPR stated that Jokowi asked himself to collaborate with Anies in working on the naturalization and normalization of rivers in Jakarta. Besides in Jakarta, Basuki said that his party would conduct normalization in the Bekasi River that had not been dealt with systematically in the past. Basuki hopes that the next two years will produce better developments.
On the other hand, Jokowi also gave directions for handling short-term flooding. This is due to BMKG’s prediction that states if the Jakarta and surrounding areas will experience high rainfall from 10 to 15 January 2020. Short-term flood management includes; emergency treatment, refugee management, logistics, and TMC (Weather Modification Technology Operations).
Handling this flood should not be convoluted, if only Anies Baswedan is able to work faster and better. Instead of accusing each other of mistakes and throwing responsibility. After all, everything must indeed be done together. The possibility of this Governor has a fairly high prestige or is he really being antipathy? If you had previously wanted to be modest, aware that your responsibility for Jakarta was a top priority, surely this problem would not have to drag on.
In addition, flooding can be handled more quickly. Besides that, a number of the problems mentioned including budget circumcision for flood anticipation projects must also be accounted for. Considering the money was specifically poured out for infrastructure completion. Hopefully this Presidential instruction can be used as a lesson for Anies so that in the future he will be able to present a better performance.
) * The author is a social political observer