Jakarta on Fire

Up to 1970s, Jakarta was known as a big village. But now with high skyscraper buildings scattered around surrounded by modern suburbs, it becomes a big metropolitan. However, the densely populated slums in peripheral areas remain untouched mainly alongside rivers, unused state lands, and railways. 

The huts and small illegal houses which pack together in cluster giving no space between one another are prone to unhealthy environment and more fatally big fires. The latter takes toll of the huge amount of citizens’ properties and sometimes human life. The fire incident is caused mainly by an electric short circuit and by stove explosion in the second place.

Statistically, two or three fires damage Jakarta every day, especially at those highly populated slums such as Tambora in West Jakarta, Tanah Abang and Bendungan Hilir in Central Jakarta. Since January to July 2012, there have been around 560 cases of fires raging over various parts of the city taking toll of 30 human lives.

Just to take for example, the fire incident in Tambora, 28 July 2012 devastated 500 houses making at least 1,400 people were homeless. Amazingly, no longer than 10 days after, the fire raged again the area, where 75 houses were destroyed and 400 people homeless. Just two days before, in Bendungan Hilir fire destroyed more than 100 houses causing 500 people homeless. The lesson was never learned.

Most people living in the slum areas have migrated from outside the city illegally occupying the areas. They build the rudimentary huts with fire-prone materials, barely any alley to cross and no water supply in or close to the site. Most of the electrical installations in the shelters do not meet with the standard. The illegal electricity conjunction, that people connect from the electric lines, aggravates the condition.

The danger of fire is imminent as most people there are reckless about such danger that haunts them. It is almost impossible to extinguish the fire if it happens as not enough water available and no fire-truck can approach the spot. Within a short time, the flame will propagate to the whole area fiercely consuming everything around.

But, this is not the only story. Business centers and factories with complete fire extinguishers are occasionally vulnerable to fire. The last incident was on August 12, just four days after the second Tambora’s fire, a total of 27 stalls at Harco Glodok, in the Chinese town were combusted.

To cope with the electrical short circuit hazard, PLN together with the electric contractor associations have to intensively socialize people to use proper and standardized electrical equipment and re-check regularly the condition of electric installation. More importantly, PLN should selectively supply the power to fire-vulnerable huts and houses and refuse to do so especially for illegal shelters.

Does the fire become Jakarta everlasting problem?

Revitalization of Old Buildings in the Old City Areas

Jakarta is a dynamic city and shows its ever-increasing development. However, latent problems caused by traffic jam, floods and sidewalk traders seemingly to persist. On top of tackling those problems, the city government has a plan to promote the old area to become a tourist destination but only partially successful.

The old city which becomes the target of those promotions covering parts of North and West Jakarta. The old buildings inside the area have been treated as persevered monuments and any renovation of them must receive a special permit from local government to preserve the architecture of the buildings. 

What happens is that the owners of the buildings don’t have the same spirit as the city government to promote the area. Most of the owners cannot properly make use of the buildings considering their strategic location. They even neglect the maintenance of the buildings letting them untouched as such that give a shabby impression.

It seems that the owners do not even have the attention to painting the walls of their buildings and the city government never calls for them to do so. This is very disappointing considering that even in the relatively poor areas such as in the regencies and villages outside Jakarta the authorities used to ask their communities to paint the walls of their homes, for example, in the occasion of celebrating the Independence Day.

Special attention has to be given to the old dwellings of two-story houses which the second floor used as family living rooms and the first one as a store. The merchandise or food sales sometimes are equal to what street vendors have. Such a condition certainly tarnishes the city appearance which is contrary to the city planners.  

A big question is naturally raised. How come that the owners of the shops and the unmaintained old buildings could pay an exorbitant land and building tax (PBB) where the price of land is more than Rp 20 million (around US$2000) per square meter? The fact that many owners have moved to real estates in the skirt of Jakarta and don’t properly pay taxes for their old negligent properties. 

The city government should be more rigorous to impose the city residents to fulfill their obligations. The owners should be obedient to pay tax according to the high value of their properties amid their bad appearance. For those who want to maintain their properties within such areas, should renovate their buildings and pay the tax.

For those who are unable or do not want to pay the cumulative unpaid taxes for years should release their properties to the third parties or the city government if they are interested. The buildings could be renovated or demolished to widen the roads or to build open areas or recreation centers.

Under such determination, it is hoped that the city government could implement their plan to make the old city center become a tourist destination.

Don't Forget to Remember Pedestrians

Jakarta Metropolitan is not for pedestrians. Certainly, Jakarta has not been designed for it. The city seems to be prioritized for the cars’ mobility. No comfortable sidewalks are available nor zebra-crosses are enough for people to stroll around enjoying the metropolitan life. 

The condition of pedestrian access is poor not only in the periphery of the city but also in business, shopping, tourist and office areas where many people used to circulate carrying out their routine activities. 

The pedestrians would be pleased if the sidewalks are free from obstacles such as sidewalk traders and parking vehicles. Ideally, the width of the sidewalks at the protocol road is 5 meters and non-protocol roads 3 meters, but they would be more than happy if they can stride on good sidewalks even though they are narrower. 

The city government seems to be indifferent by the misuse of the sidewalks. The city government may claim that they have modern management but fail to recognize the basic problem of the city. Permissiveness for people not to observe discipline, cleanliness, and tidiness under the reason of poverty is the source of the problem not only in Jakarta but nationwide. 

On the strategic spots, many sidewalks are occupied by traders, some of whom have semi-permanent stalls on them. Many parking-men are careless about the interest of the pedestrians and just let the vehicles park on the sidewalks hindering the pedestrians to easily pass along the sidewalks. 

In order to beautify and make the city become greener, the city government allows some flower cultivators to display their ornamental plants on the sidewalks which in many cases take the whole sidewalks area leaving out little or no space for pedestrians. 

Recently city officials start to recognize that most of the sidewalks in Jakarta are in poor condition. Some are heavily damaged, some are too small, and others are almost at the same height as the road level making the motorcycle drivers who are trapped in a traffic jam can easily run over the sidewalks endangering pedestrians. 

Realizing the previous negligence, the city government today is trying to improve at least 13 sidewalks and make them exemplary models mainly in Central Jakarta. In addition, regular patrol to drive out the sidewalk traders and demolish their illegal stalls, if any, or other obstacles for pedestrians will be carried out regularly. 

Jakarta City Government should not be hesitated to make a comparative study to Surabaya. The Surabaya mayor has renewed water channel and at the same time improved the sidewalks above it. All activities on the sidewalks which have nothing to do with pedestrians are reduced and prohibited. The sidewalk traders are given special places for them to sell their merchandise and staple diet. 

Some of the sidewalks were paved with marble stone blocks to beautify the sidewalks.  Several statues and art ornaments are erected in some sidewalks making people feel comfortable to stroll. In the meantime, city police and officials regularly patrol around the city to make sure that either traders, parking-men or homeless families make use of the sidewalks for their own needs. 

One of the advantages that Surabaya gains in improving the management of sidewalks are because the current city mayor was formerly the chairman of City Park and therefore she knows well all about the problems related to the sidewalks. 

But above all, in order to manage the city properly, the city government should change their mindset that the discipline should be held and strictly imposed on their residents. Orders, cleanliness and tidiness are everybody’s duty to keep for the benefit of all people anywhere and any time.

Will North Jakarta Subside below Sea Level?

It is alarming that the level of seawater inundating Jakarta coastal area is getting higher and higher. Today we can notice that at certain spots in Jakarta coastal area the sea water level invading the land could reach up to 2 meters during high tide. Some people think that Jakarta coastal area is in the process of submerging below the sea level. 

Does such a phenomenon really happen in Jakarta? Some surveys conducted in coastal areas indicate that the subsidence of the areas may reach 10 centimeters annually. However, we have to be extremely prudent about such a diagnosis as it may lead us to the wrong solution.

It is true that for some dense populated and industrial areas which are relatively far from the coast,  the high withdrawal rate of the groundwater through the wells drilled in those areas may cause slight land subsidence.

However, this groundwater withdrawal unlikely affects the subsidence in the coastal areas. The evidence of the seawater intrusion up to Central Jakarta proves that such water withdrawal has been compensated by the seawater intrusion to the groundwater formation in those areas. 

There are, indeed, certain spots in the coastal areas which are subsiding, such as on the site of Muara Karang power plant, but all of those subsided areas are ex-coastal land reclamation and cannot be generalized to happen elsewhere. 

Some experts pointed out to the rise of sea water level which is about one centimeter annually. Once again, we have also to be cautious to such claim as the sea water rise should be globally occurring and should be verified whether it occurs elsewhere.

One thing for sure that the sedimentation which raises the riverbed in the estuary of 13 rivers in the Jakarta Bay is the main cause of the sea flood. In the high tide, these shallow estuaries resulting in the mixture of water from the rivers and the sea spill over the surrounding low areas. The original deep estuaries function like "safety valves" which allow the high tide seawater flow deep toward the upstream of the rivers and not spill over the drylands. 

Based on the premise that sea floods coming frontally through the coastline,  the City government is currently planning to construct a high polder along the coastal area preventing for the entry of seawater, locally called rob. The polders will be constructed in two sections of the coastal areas which are vulnerable to sea floods, namely Penjaringan to Kapuk Subdistrict in the west and Marunda to Kelapa Gading in the east.

The initial step is to improve the broken parts of the existing polder and water gates, and by doing so the city government promises that in 2012, North Jakarta will be free from sea flood. The next step is to construct a high polder along Jakarta Bay complete with water gates of 200 meters long to allow ocean liners to make their entry into and go out of Tanjung Priok Port.

Such an ambitious and "luxury" plan definitely will require a huge amount of money. Before the city government goes further with the plan, it is highly advisable to re-scrutinize the diagnosis of the cause of the sea flood in order to get a more proper solution.

We have to consider what some experts said that areas bounded by such high polder will easily become shallow caused by the huge amount of mud and solid wasted discharged by all of those rivers into Jakarta Bay. 

It is highly recommended that the city government spends instead the loan or allocated budget, which is originally destined for the polder construction,  for the periodic dredging of those estuaries and river rehabilitation.  Some of the funds could be also used for relocation of the illegal huts along the river banks and for Jakarta clean rivers campaign. Such spending is definitely much lower than that required for the polder construction.

Reorganized Parking Areas along the City Roads

Jakarta as a metropolitan city surprisingly doesn’t have a comprehensive regulation on the parking areas along the city side roads, even in the busiest areas in the heart of the city. The clear example of this is the misuse of side roads of Hayam Wuruk and Gajah Mada which connect the administrative area with the downtown.

The parking areas along the side roads of these lanes have long been known as the source of traffic jam almost all day long. The city government seems indifferent toward the situation and blames instead that the number of cars crossing Jakarta is too many.

Realizing that the situation becomes worse and worse the city government issued the regulation forbidding anybody to park the vehicle along the side roads of those two lanes. As the alternative, the drivers who want to stop-by along those two lanes are required to park their vehicles at certain appointed spots especially the buildings or shopping centers having parking lots. Those areas are able to accommodate cars which are enough to replace the number of cars which were used to park along the side roads of those two lanes.

The drivers who were reluctant to follow this regulation simply parked their vehicles on the sidewalks hampering the pedestrians’ ways, permitted at the discretion of the parking-men. Obviously, this outrageous act paying no attention to the convenience of pedestrians definitely could not be tolerated for whatever reasons.

Following the stipulation of the policy, hundreds of registered parking-men along the two roads held a demo protesting for the policy. As they lost the jobs, the city government has removed them to other areas around Jakarta or channeled to special buildings with parking lots.

The government seemed determined to follow up with the policy and ignore the protests of the businessmen and traders who own the offices or shops along the two roads. The traders argued that buyers would be getting less as they should park their vehicles far away from the shops.

As the city government wants to restore order, a plan is set up to maintain the function of the sidewalk by making it a little bit higher and make the areas more greenery by planting more trees and putting big pots containing flowers. At certain spots, iron pipes are already stuck deep into the ground to prevent any motorcycles and cars to pass through the sidewalks.

Today city officials are in the process of setting up the Detailed Engineering Design, and the project will be auctioned in the early of 2012. The city government should make sure that the public space for a pedestrian will not be taken over by sidewalk traders, which is the acute problem as occurs in anywhere else within the city.    

We hope that the project applied for Jalan Hayam Wuruk and Gajah Mada would be extended to other main roads throughout the city.