"We will carry out normalization programs on the Ciliwung, Pesanggrahan, Angke and Sunter rivers. I ask that residents living in the river bank areas should be relocated soon," Jokowi said at the City Hall on Wednesday.
Therefore, Tokowi asked the relevant village and subsdistrict heads to begin making persuasive approaches to the people living on the river banks.
"The approaches should be done in a persuasive and patient way and so that residents would realize that their presence at river banks violate the rules," Jokowi said.
He said that if the officials failed to persuade residents, the working units of the village administration (UKPD) must report the case.
"If officials find obstacles when they make approaches, they should report the case immediately to me so that the case could be handled soon. I hope the work for normalizing rivers in Jakarta would have been started in April or May this year," the Jakarta governor said.
Besides that, Jokowi also hoped that after the rivers were already normalized, the UKPD in their respective areas should continue to supervise the rivers so that the rivers and their banks would continue to be sterilized from resident resettlement and street vendors.
On Wednesday, Jokowi gathered a total of 26 subdistrict heads and 75 village chiefs at the City Hall and gave them directives with regard to the plan of the Jakarta administration to normalize the river banks in the capital city.
The meeting was also attended by Central Jakarta Mayor Syaifullah, North Jakarta Mayor Bambang Sugiono, West Jakarta Mayor Burhanuddin, South Jakarta Mayor Anas Effendi and East Jakarta Mayor Krisdianto.
The relocation of residents along the river banks in Jakarta was one of Jokowi`s six programmes to handle flooding in the capital
The Jakarta regional government has come up with a number of steps, in its short and long term programmes, to overcome the impact of floods in Jakarta.
"Our plan will be successful if all the stakeholders support the government`s steps," Jokowi said after meeting the Parliament leadership recently.
He said at least six programmes will be carried out shortly. One of the programmes looks into the normalisation of the Ciliwung, Pesangrahan, Angke, and Sunter rivers.
The Jakarta administration will accelerate the resettlement of homes and people along the rivers` banks.
Last week, Jakarta was hit by floods which peaked on Thursday, killing at least 15 residents until Sunday. It was the second worst after the one in 2007 which killed 80 residents and caused a loss of Rp4.3 trillion.
The flooding in Jakarta has seriously affected businesses, disturbed goods and logistics distribution and caused at least 300 factories to stop operations.
The TransJakarta Busway operator was forced to stop the operation of its buses in all lanes.
On Monday, Chairman of the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Taufiq Kiemas appealed to all parties to cooperate in handling floods in Jakarta.
"We hope that we all should cooperate in tackling the flood problems. It is impossible for Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo to work alone, we should provide mutual help," Taufiq said.
Until Tuesday, about 12 areas in West and North Jakarta were still inaccessible due to floods, said a spokesperson for the National Police Institution, Inspector General Pol Suhardi Alius, on Tuesday.
"There are five areas in West Jakarta that are still affected by floods. Flood waters have reached a height of 30 centimetres or 40 centimetres in these areas. In North Jakarta, flood waters have reached a height of 70 centimetres. Some of the places in North Jakarta that have been affected by floods are Pluit, Muara Baru and Penjaringan," he said.
(A014/O001)
Editor: Maryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
