JAKARTA IS SINKING AND THE PRESIDENT WANTS ACTION . . . NOW
JAKARTA— Indonesia’s president said in an interview that he wanted to see the speedy construction of a giant sea wall around Jakarta to prevent the low-lying capital from sinking under the sea, lending renewed backing and a sense of urgency to a slow-moving and politically contested mega project.
President Joko Widodo and his government are up against a tight timetable, including a forecast by experts that at the current rate, one-third of Jakarta could be submerged by 2050.
The crisis facing the city is the culmination of decades of unfettered development, almost nonexistent urban planning and misrule by city politicians who have served private interests over those of the public.
Lacking a comprehensive piped water network, industry and residents have tapped into the city’s aquifers, causing rapid subsidence in northern Jakarta, home to several million people.
In this area, the swampy ground has been sinking at an average of about 10 centimeters a year. Rising sea levels from a heated-up planet will compound the problem in decades to come.
Widodo told the Associated Press (AP) that it was time to move ahead with the sea wall, a project the government first began to consider a decade ago. “This huge project will need to be done quickly to prevent Jakarta from sinking under the sea,” he said.
The president said he was determined to push through key projects and reforms, even if potentially unpopular, noting that he would be less constrained by domestic politics in his second and final five-year term.