After Kemang floods yet again, Ahok vows to demolish buildings next to river starting next month

Heavy rains hit the capital once again on Sunday night, and, once again, a powerful but brief downpour managed to flood Kemang Raya, the main street running through the hip South Jakarta neighborhood.

It is the third time major flooding has hit Kemang in just one month’s time, and unless the government takes drastic action, it is likely to happen again and again throughout the rainy season.

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama seems ready to take that action. During the last bout of flooding in early September, he vowed to tear down all of the building that were encroaching on the Krukut river, the main waterway that runs through Kemang. He has said that the river was once 25 meters in width but that developments have slowly shrunken that figure down to a mere 3 meters, preventing rainwater from being channeled away swiftly.

But Ahok acknowledged that it would be a difficult task from a bureaucratic standpoint. Although an audit showed that many of the river adjacent buildings did not have the proper permits and could thus be legally torn down, other buildings had permits that Ahok suspected were obtained illegally. 

This morning, Ahok said that he would make sure that his administration would begin dismantling the buildings along the Krukut river as soon as possible, targeting the operation to begin in October. He said some had advised him that it would be a bad decision to carry out the demolitions so close to the 2017 governor’s election, but he says he has no other options. 

“If [the buildings[ don’t have the proper permits, I will dismantle them. I don’t care [about the potential political consequences]. I have to tear them down. There is no other choice,” Ahok said as quoted by Liputan 6.  

The governor said that his administration would buy the land from those buildings which did have proper permits. He said that funding the operation might be a problem, so he has asked for contributions from the private sector.
 



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