The capital city relocation to East Kalimantan could help lower the likelihood of Jakarta sinking, according to Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria.
“(This is) because there would be a shift in the number of residents in Jakarta to IKN (Nusantara state capital). The number of residents will reduce,” he stated in Jakarta City Hall, Tuesday.
Patria said groundwater consumption is also expected to ease the burden in Jakarta.
“Moving the capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, among others, aims to reduce the burden on Jakarta, including the burden of lowering the groundwater level,” he noted.
To reduce groundwater consumption, the Jakarta provincial government, through the regional-owned water tap company, PAM Jaya, seeks to accelerate the provision of piped clean water in collaboration with the central government for the implementation of the Drinking Water Supply System (SPAM).
Patria also urged industry players, hotels, and office buildings to stop using groundwater.
“This is also conducted by monitoring and evaluating since this is one of the reasons for the excessive use of groundwater,” he remarked.
Currently, Jakarta’s drinking water pipe system only covers 64 percent of the city, and the quantity of water that can be supplied to the community only reaches 20,725 liters per second for 908,324 customer connections.
Through cooperation with the central government, PAM Jaya must be able to provide an additional supply of 11,150 liters per second.
In addition, the government needs additional distribution infrastructure that covers 35 percent of the new service area for piping to approximately one million additional new customers by 2030.
Through collaboration between the central government and Jakarta regional government, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan targets access to drinking water pipe services for Jakarta’s residents to reach 100 percent by 2030.
On the other hand, Baswedan has also issued a policy of limiting and prohibiting groundwater extraction in areas served by the PAM Jaya pipeline network as stipulated in Governor’s Regulation Number 93 of 2021 on Groundwater Free Zoning.
The regulation will come into effect on August 1, 2023, with the provisions prohibiting the consumption of groundwater for buildings, with the criteria being a building, with a floor area of five thousand square meters or more and the number of floors being eight or more.
Source: Antara News