"We support the measure to demolish illegal villas in the area, but it has not really solved the flood problem," the minister stated, while examining the demolition of illegal villages in the Puncak resort area on Monday.
The floods that hit Jakarta and its surroundings over the past one week were caused by heavy rain fall which could not be contained by the water catchment area.
The Puncak, from which the Ciliwung River runs down through Jakarta, is a river basin area (DAS) that has been damaged. Most parts of it have changed into resettlement and villa areas.
"My task is to bring back the environment to normalcy. Trees must be replanted and water catchment must be rebuilt," the minister pointed out.
In the meantime, the Bogor district government has set itself the target of demolishing 400 illegal villas in the Puncak resort as part of the efforts to restore the water catchment area to prevent floods in Jakarta.
"Last year, 231 villas were torn down. We plan to demolish another 400 villas this year," remarked Bogor district head Rachmat Yasin on Monday.
The district government will begin dismantling the 400 villas in February after the 2014 district budget had been approved, he assured.
The villas will be pulled down in stages until the end of 2014, he mendtioned.
In total, 800 villas in the resort area will be taken apart, he explained.
"We will demolish the rest in stages," he stated.
The former site of the demolished villas will be turned into an agro tourism area by planting a variety of trees and developing water catchment to prevent water in Puncak from flowing directly to Ciliwung River, he explained.
He added that the Jakarta provincial government will extend aid to the Bogor district government to finance the demolition of the villas.
In 2013, the Jakarta government provided Rp2.1 billion in the form of aid to Bogor district to finance the demolition.
"Based on the MoU the amount of aid totaled to Rp2.1 billion last year. The amount will be doubled this year," he promised.
(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
