Anies and Sandiaga gear up for rainy season

DKI JAKARTA - JAKARTA. With the rainy season fast approaching, the Jakarta administration has made several mitigation efforts to prevent flooding, such as cleaning reservoirs and rivers from garbage and making sure that hundreds of its water pumps are in good condition.

Jakarta Water Resource Agency head Teguh Hendarwan said that his agency was focusing on cleaning rivers in several flood-prone areas in South Jakarta and East Jakarta, including Krukut river and Cipinang river, respectively.

“We have roughly 3,000 blue troops to clean rivers. Also, we have 145 water pumps to minimize inundation, 95 percent of which are in good condition,” Teguh said at City Hall on Thursday after attending a meeting on flood mitigation with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno.

Both leaders called on Jakarta citizens to start a clean lifestyle by managing their household waste properly to minimize the chance of flooding in their neighborhood.

“We need people’s participation to clean their neighborhood so that the [rivers and sewers] can function normally,” Sandiaga said. (wit)