Rotterdam helps dredge city rivers

Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Tue, 01/20/2009 3:11 PM 

The city of Rotterdam will hand over equipment to help dredge rivers in Jakarta as technical assistance offered by the Dutch city to the capital now that a pilot dredging phase has ended.

“Tomorrow [Tuesday], we will officially transfer the dredging equipment to the governor. They include two floating bulldozers and specialized equipment which separates river sediment from waste,” river dredging project team leader Daan Rijks told The Jakarta Post on Monday.  He was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar about the Port of Rotterdam here.

The small bulldozers can maneuver in canals only two to three meters wide, while a medium-sized one can enter and clear out canals 15 by 20 meters wide.

Dutch experts have been training city employees since November 2009 to use the equipment in a pilot project that cleaned out sections of the Kali Mati and Pademangan rivers in North Jakarta.

“We will work side by side until February or March. Then people here will take over; we’ll come back to advise and consult,” Rijks added.

“We start in April then continue this project for the next two years,” Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said Monday.

Fauzi has said the dredging would include not only waterways in Jakarta but also in upstream areas.

The technical assistance provided by the Rotterdam administration is part of a World Bank funded project of US$150 million in soft loans and a $10 million grant. 

The project has two stages: dredging and repairing embankments and water pumps, beginning this year, and improving human resource capacity to mitigate floods until 2012.

Fauzi also said, “Within my five-year term, I’m aiming to complete the East Flood Canal project by 2010.”

Vice Mayor of Rotterdam Lucas Bolsius said the dredging project need better planning from Jakarta administration to ensure its success.

“Even in Rotterdam and Holland, we are making plans for the next hundred of years.”