JAKARTA FLOODS LINKED TO ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION, NOT UNUSUAL WEATHER

by Kalinga Seneviratne

(IPS) JAKARTA -- The worst ever floods to hit the Indonesian capital, which submerged 60 percent of the city and killed 85 people earlier this month, are being attributed to uncontrolled construction rather than unusually heavy rain, by a broad spectrum of analysts here.

Relief agencies, the media and even some politicians are now saying that rather than blaming the weather, the permit system for building shopping malls, high-rise apartments and villas needs to be hauled up and tightly regulated.

"Corruption is a big problem. (Political) leaders don't work based on the needs of the people, but, the person who has money. If they want to build on green areas leaders give them permission,' Jose Rizal Yurnalis of the ÔIslamic Mer-c Relief' agency told IPS.

Ô'There are too many buildings in Jakarta and not enough green areas for water catchment,' he added.

Water bodies in and around Jakarta have shrunk in the past two decades with many lakes turned into building sites. The Limnology Research Center at the National Institute of Science (LIPI) which has studied the problem has pointed out that out of the 218 lakes in Jakarta and the outskirts at the beginning of the 1990s, only a fourth remain today. Many have been filled up by developers to construct residences, apartments or shopping malls.

One such area is Kelapa Gading in the north of Jakarta which has been touted as Jakarta's first satellite neighborhood, housing huge shopping malls, upmarket villas, a major car assembly plant and many businesses. A slum-lined waterway, black with pollutants and a small reservoir are all that remains of its many water bodies. This area, including its luxury villas, were flooded for three days in water up to a metre or more.

Such blatant development of land reserved as Ôgreenbelts' to absorb rainwater is made possible because of corrupt government officials who work closely with developers to undermine greenland regulations contained in the master plans drawn up for the city over 30 years ago, says Marwan Batubara, who represents Jakarta district in the Regional Representative Council.

"Investors constructing malls, apartments, they work closely with government officials to convert green areas to buildÉ the officials nor the government inform parliament about this and they change the regulations from time to time, to accommodate the changes that have already happened," he said in an interview with IPS.

According to the First Master Plan (1965-1985), the regions including Kelapa Gading were to be part of a greenbelt. But this greenbelt project was not included in the 1985-2005 Master Plan.

According to an investigation by the ÔTempo' magazine, the 37.2 percent of the Jakarta area allocated for greenbelts -- parks, sports grounds, urban woods and lakes in the 1965-1985 Master Plan -- was reduced to 25.85 percent in the new plan drawn out for the 1985-2005 period. But the master plan 2000-2010 shows the area further reduced to 13.94 percent. Tempo found that a number of areas allocated in the original master plan as "green spaces" have been transformed into shopping and residential complexes.

When such constructions are done in greenbelts, their concrete floors stop the absorption of rainwater, which then overflows the drains and inundates roads and properties.

Environmentalists have in the past warned against closing Jakarta's natural waterways or filling in the water bodies because the city was founded on low marshland by Dutch colonial rulers with parts of the old ÔBatavia' already lying below sea level.

Jakarta's governor Sutiyoso (one name) admits that excessive construction has reduced the absorption capacity. He told Tempo in an interview that he has asked for 24 luxury houses in Kelapa Gading to be torn down, but added: Ô'If you own land, I'm not likely to come up to you and stop you from building a house on your land.'

Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta) disagrees and plans to report the governor and the Coordinating Minister for Peoples' Welfare, Aburizal Bakri, to the National Human Rights Commission. Fakta wants the commission to summon Sutiyoso and ask his administration to stop converting the much-depleted green space into commercial premises in the capital.

For developers however, converting such greenbelts to shopping malls, luxury housing and business premises is big business. In Kelapa Gading there are no fewer than 25,000 homes and 2,000 office buildings, plus three huge shopping malls. According to the shopping center management company's president, Johanes Mardjuki, the flow of money at Kelapa Gading reaches 750 million U.S. dollars per day.

With such wealth-making opportunities at stake, Batubara argues that to save the greenbelts from greedy developers, the power to issue construction permits needs to be taken away from provincial and local government officials who can be easily bribed or intimidated by powerful people, such as army bigwigs who are into the business.

"I have recommended that the government should prepare a new master plan and its implementation should be done under the office of the President through his cabinet,' said Batubara. Ô'This will at least close avenues for intimidation."

Sutiyoso points out another problem with setting up greenbelts. "Every time we open an area, the vendors immediately rush in to do their trade," he told Tempo. "They are usually migrants who live by whatever means, including setting out their children to beg in the streets. Then they look for shelter, usually along the river banks.

Leading civic reforms activist Irma Hutabarat warns against blaming the squatters or the weather for the flood problem. She insists that the floods were a man-made phenomena created by government officials who issue construction permits on greenbelt areas.

"Only if government lives up to universally accepted standards can we pin our hopes on officials to prevent floods and other disasters. We can't blame it on the rain anymore,' she said in a commentary in the 'Jakarta Post.'