JAKARTA - Indonesia is reviving plans to construct a giant sea wall in the latest of a series of measures to prevent its capital city Jakarta from sinking at a faster rate.
The project will require three phases of construction extending past 2040, with the first two stages requiring 164 trillion rupiah ($10.5 billion) in funding, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said on Wednesday. He didn’t say how much money would be needed for the third phase.
While the idea has been tossed around for more than a decade, a proposal to build a sea wall was recently revived as Jakarta becomes the fastest-sinking megacity in the world.
The impetus comes as the capital sinks by as much as 25 centimetres per year while tidal flood rises by up to 200cm annually, Hartarto said.
Home to more than 10 million people on the island of Java, Jakarta has seen some areas subside by as much as four metres between 1997 to 2005, with experts predicting that one-third of the capital may be submerged by 2050 if the problem is left unchecked.
Flooding in coastal Jakarta was estimated to cause losses of 2.1 trillion rupiah per year, which can potentially rise to 10 trillion rupiah yearly in the next decade.
To slow down the sinking and ease the pressure on Jakarta, Indonesia has restricted the extraction of groundwater. The government is also pushing for the creation of a $34-billion new capital city called Nusantara on the island of Borneo.
Indonesia will elect a new leader on Feb 14 and whether the successor to President Joko Widodo, who cannot seek a third term, will pursue the massive infrastructure project remains to be seen.
“The problem facing this sea wall is that it needs around 40 years to be completed,” said Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who is leading opinion polls for the presidential election.
“The problem is whether political leaders have the focus, the thinking and the ability to see through the project. This is our responsibility.”