Flood in Jayapura City (Jubi)
Jayapura, 12/2 (Jubi) – land exploitation is to blame for floods and landslides that have hit Kota Jayapura, Papua, a member of Jayapura city council (DPRD) said .
“Because of a lack of control from the local government in particular the Department of City Planning who have not been selective in granting construction permits either to developers or individuals, therefore the protected forest areas have also been affected,” DPRD member of Commission C, Chistian Kondobua said told tabloidjubi.com by phone on Wednesday (12/2).
Further he hoped that authorities would reexamine building permits for individuals and developers to limit construction in areas that are prone to floods and landslides.
“The exploitation of protected forests for city development will worse disasters in the future,” said Kondobua.
Earlier, the Jayapura Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) head, Bernard J Lamia, said land exploitation in Kota Jayapura has caused the floods and landslides in several areas in Entrop, Yotefa Market and Padang Bulan.
“Not only those areas, Perumnas 3 was also already becoming a new flooding point as a result of this exploitation,” he told tabloidjubi.com in Tuesday (11/2).
The conversion of protected forest into housing and human settlements is already on the edge. It was not only causing a decrease of rainwater absorption but also the narrowing of rivers
“Not to mention the garbage that obstructs water flows from gutters in neighborhoods because they have blocked by houses’ foundations,” he said. (Jubi/Sindung/rom)
