To Be Effective, Ciliwung Normalization Focused on Several Segments

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta is targeting the Cawang-Cililitan area in East Jakarta and the Rawajati-Pengadegan area in South Jakarta as the focus for the normalization of the Ciliwung River over the next three years. In this river normalization effort, there are changes to the construction plans.

The changes in the development plan will result in the measurement and valuation of land prices being repeated. To be more effective, the government will not issue a new location determination if the segment has not been completed.

The Head of the Administrative Subdivision of the Land Procurement Unit at the Jakarta Water Resources Agency (SDA), Ibnu Affan, explained that initially, the normalization of the Ciliwung River for the Cawang segment was carried out using a diversion approach, namely altering the river's flow into a straight line. However, the plan for the route or marking line has now changed.

With the change in the normalization plan, the need for land is getting bigger.

Based on the study of his party and the Ciliwung Cisadane River Basin Center (BBWSCC), normalization in the segment will be carried out by following the river line. This makes the amount of land that must be cleared larger. Land measurement and assessment (appraisal) must also be redone.

The total land plots to be acquired in that segment amount to 511 plots. This figure consists of 470 plots in Cawang Subdistrict and 41 plots in Cililitan Subdistrict, both located in Kramat Jati District, East Jakarta.

"With the change in the normalization plan, the need for land has increased significantly. We hope to receive support from the community," he said in Jakarta, Thursday (27/2/2025).

Since it began ten years ago, based on BBWSCC data, the length of embankments constructed through this program has reached 17.14 kilometers. Approximately 16.55 kilometers remain unfinished, out of the target of 33.69 kilometers. The section to be normalized stretches from the T.B Simatupang area in South Jakarta to the Manggarai Water Gate in Central Jakarta.

For information, the normalization of the Ciliwung River aims to control the flow of rainwater from upstream areas in Bogor, West Java, so that it does not overflow into residents' homes in Jakarta. With this program, the river is widened from the original 15-20 meters to 30-50 meters. Residents' homes within this radius must also be evicted.

This program is a collaboration between the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government as the land provider, and BBWSCC from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing as the developer.

One of the problems faced in the normalization of the Ciliwung River is the partial construction process. From the complaints received from residents, Deputy Sub-district Head of Kramat Jati Diman said that in his area there is land that has been paid for and released but has not been built a dam. This is considered to need attention because the land or empty houses have the potential to be occupied by irresponsible parties.

"The land and the house have been paid for, have been released, but they are just left alone. There is no development. This is dangerous because it is used by irresponsible people, used or rented," he said.

Responding to this, the Head of the Complaints Group of the Government Bureau of the DKI Jakarta Regional Secretariat Agus Saputra explained that the normalization of the Ciliwung River was not running optimally because land acquisition was still being carried out partially. So far, the acquisition and normalization have been carried out in segments whose documents have been completed first.

As a result, construction is difficult to run comprehensively, because the completeness of land documents owned by residents is separated in various segments. To be effective, now his party will prioritize and focus normalization based on segments. One of the priority considerations is areas that are often flooded quite often within one year.

For the next three years, the government will prioritize normalization in the Cawang-Cililitan segment, East Jakarta, then to Rawajati-Pengadegan, South Jakarta.

For this reason, the Secretary of the Ciliwung River Normalization Land Acquisition Preparation Team added that from now on, his party will not issue new location determinations (penlok) submitted by the SDA Service if these segments have not been completed.

"We are committed, if this segment is not finished then there will be no new penlok. Until the next three years we focus on this segment," said Agus.

In addition to these problems, another challenge faced is the absence of regulations on River Boundary Lines (GSS). Regulations containing the boundaries between riverbanks and river bodies are needed, especially to assess how large an area needs to be cleared.

He hopes that this regulation can be issued by the center soon. He explained that this approach is needed so that normalization runs in one direction. Moreover, this normalization is one of the focuses of the first 100 days of Pramono Anung-Rano Karno's work.

"Because they are still separated, it is not effective if BBWSCC only normalizes 5 meters here, 10 meters there," he said.