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Thu March 28 2024

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Dutch help safeguard sinking city of Jakarta

2 Apr 14 Representatives from the Dutch and Indonesian government have unveiled a masterplan aimed at protecting Jakarka from an increased threat of flooding over the next decade.

The masterplan contains a vision and practical recommendations aimed at guaranteeing the safety of Jakarta’s four to five million inhabitants in 2025.

Jakarta is facing significant challenges. The rate of land subsidence is some 150mm per year, due to groundwater extractions, and an increasingly larger section of the city is below sea level. Heavy rainfall combined with years of overdue maintenance on flood defences increases the possibility of flooding. Increasing urbanisation is putting enormous pressure on the drinking water supply.

Dutch infrastructure and the environment minister Schultz van Haegen presented the Dutch-Indonesian national capital integrated coastal development (NCICD) flood protection plan. She announced the plan together with the Indonesian minister of public works, Djoko Kirmanto.

“In Jakarta, the speed at which spatial planning and water management must be adapted to the growing population and economy is unparalleled,” said Schultz. “I am proud to present this plan to you and I have every faith in the cooperation between our two countries.”

In 2008, Indonesia called on the Netherlands to aid in protecting Jakarta from high water. Indonesian and Dutch experts from the public and private sectors and research institutions worked on the NCICD for six years. “This is a highly ambitious plan,” said Schultz. “A plan with imaginative solutions like an outer sea wall in the form of Indonesia’s national symbol, the Great Garuda. The master plan is on schedule, in line with the desire of the Indonesian  government to speed up the project.”

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MPU
MPU

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