REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Giant Sea Wall in Saemangeum, South Korea, cannot be implemented to reduce flooding in Jakarta because there are geographical differences between the two regions, according to Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok.

"After take a closer look at the Saemangeum dike, I think it would not help with the reservoirs in Jakarta," Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said on Monday after visiting South Korea from September 19 to 21, 2014.

Ahok, explained that Korea's Saemangeum Sea Wall only served to hold back enormous waves. The needs of Jakarta, however, require preventing the city from sinking since it sits below sea level.

Also, Ahok said the Saemangeum Sea Wall cleans the seawater when the tide goes out.

"When the sea tide goes out, there are waves as high as 2.5 meters, and when it recedes, it falls to below 2.5 meters, so there is a difference of five feet. Reservoirs that are contaminated can then be cleaned by sea water," he noted.

This advantage cannot be applied in Jakarta, because local conditions keep the water below sea level.

Rotterdam model

According to Ahok, the Jakarta Provincial Government should fix 13 streams of type A by adapting techniques in flood prevention from Rotterdam, Netherlands. Moreover, in another step, Jakarta could ask people who live in luxury estates on the outskirts of Jakarta to build reservoirs, as found in in California, United States.

"So the rich living on the edge of the beach (Kapuk and Mutiara) can build reservoirs to intercept incoming water," he said.

Ahok noted that flood mitigation in Jakarta was more suitable to solutions found in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

"Jakarta is more similar to Rotterdam. We sent three people to Rotterdam for three months to learn about managing water. We will ask them about flood mitigation," he said.

Although Jakarta took the concept of flood mitigation from Rotterdam, Ahok still wishes to learn about the construction of reservoirs from South Korea.

"Korea is good in its building techniques because they have experience in the use of raw materials," he said.

In 2013, Jakarta experienced its largest floods in the last six years. Based on data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), total losses reached 20 trillion IDR and floods took the lives of twenty people.

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