Kali Mati to Be Converted into Reservoir
Reported by Budhi Firmansyah Surapati | Translated by Arief Rahman
Flood disaster is still a scourge for residents in Pademangan Sub-District, North Jakarta. This is because two of three villages in the sub-district as Pademangan Timur and Pademangan still become flood prone areas.
It is difficult to liberate an area of 12,000 square meters. Therefore, we proposed Kali Mati to be converted into reservoirs
Furthermore, because the area of 11.987 square kilometers still have no reservoir to hold and control the water system, the water level in some RW can reach a height of 20 to 80 centimeters when the heavy rain or tidal flood hit the area.
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Pademangan Sub-District Head, Yusuf Madjid admitted that his area still have no reservoir to drain water into the sea.
"Pademangan has two main issues, namely floods and fires as a region which has a high population density," explained Madjid, Sunday (4/5).
To solve that, Madjid continued, his side had proposed at Regional Development Planning Forums (Musrenbang) to convert Kali Mati on Jalan Baru as a reservoir because the floods that often hit the area was resulted from inability of Kali Mati as a canal of 1,500 meters long and 8 meters wide to drain water from Kali Ciliwung Lama to Kali Benyamin Sueb. In fact, as many as 8 waters conduit (PHB) empties directly into Kali Mati.
As a result, when the peak of the rainy season, the flood not only hit the area around Kali Mati, but also Gunung Sahari Utara Urban Village, and Sawah Besar Sub-District that adjacent to Pademangan also inundated due to overflowing of Kali Mati.
"It is difficult to liberate an area of 12,000 square meters. Therefore, we proposed Kali Mati to be converted into reservoirs. We believe if this plan realized, we will be able to overcome flood problem in Pademangan," he said.