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Kamis, Oktober 06, 2011

Flood Warning At Games Venues

After having to deal with construction delays and cashflow woes, Palembang is rushing to complete its facilities for November’s Southeast Asian Games, but more problems are looming on the horizon.

Hadi Jatmiko, from the Palembang branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that the South Sumatran capital had a history of flooding during the wet season. This year, the rainy season is due to hit the region later this month.

Worse still, Hadi said, was the fact that the centerpiece of the Games, the sprawling Jakabaring Sports City, sits on what was formerly swampland.

“South Sumatra is approaching the end of a long dry season, and according to the BMKG [the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency] the rainy season will start at the end of October,” Hadi said. “Flooding is expected at the SEA Games venue. Last year alone, Palembang was hit by floods 48 times. It was an ecological disaster.”

Hadi said Walhi had vehemently opposed the construction of the stadium for the international sports event because it believed the construction would worsen flooding in the city.

“They built the stadium on a swamp area without regard to the Environmental Impact Analysis [Amdal] or Bylaw No. 5 from 2008 about swamps.” He said the bylaw required developers to leave parts of the area as swampland and to construct buildings with foundations that allowed the swamp to function as a water catchment area.

Hadi advised the local government to get ready for some major flooding.

“The government must make sure it has a stand-by [search and rescue] team to help with the evacuation when the city is inundated, and it must improve the drainage system by building retention ponds immediately,” the activist said.

Imam Hendargo, the Environment Ministry’s deputy for spatial planning, said Jakabaring Sports City, could not have been built without prior analysis of its environmental impact.

“It’s a big project on many hectares, so the Amdal should be one of the requirements to be met,” Imam said.

But he was not sure whether an Amdal had been conducted as the matter was in the hands of a local committee formed by the governor there.

Meanwhile, Edvin Aldrian, the director of the center for climate change and air quality at the BMKG, confirmed that the rainy season would start in October or November in Palembang.

Like Hadi, Edvin also questioned whether the city was anticipating heavy rains.

“The problem is that those areas are swamps and lie very low, just five to seven meters above sea level,” Edvin said.

“I don’t know exactly what preparations they have made. It can be handled through man-made rivers, but I don’t know what their plans are to anticipate the rainy season.”

With just over one month until the Games, organizers are struggling to finish preparations in time. Several venues in Palembang, such as the athletics stadium, aquatics center and baseball field are still far from finished.

Sumber : http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/flood-warning-at-games-venues/469856



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