Banjarmasin continues normalizing rivers to alleviate floods

Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - The Banjarmasin City, South Kalimantan, is continuing its river normalization program, both by dredging and widening, as an effort to anticipate flood disaster in 2024.

Head of Banjarmasin Public Works and Spatial Planning (PUPR) Office Suri Sudarmadiyah here on Friday said that the program is intensified by doing various activities so that rivers in the city flow smoothly and not experience shallowness.

This year's normalization program includes Veteran River with a length of 3.5 kilometers, Sutoyo S (Teluk Dalam) River 3.5 kilometers, A Yani River 3.2 kilometers, and Guring River, which included Pekapuran River with a length of 3.8 kilometers.

Suri expounded that normalization program not only uses the city budget (APBD), but also assisted by the central governmet through the National Urban Flood Resilience Project (NUFReP).

The project, which is being carried out by the Directorate General of Water Resource of PUPR Ministry through the Kalimantan III Banjarmasin Center for River Basin (BWS) has a period of five years from 2023 to 2028.

Suri said river normalization program continues to be carried out every year, because there are hundreds of rivers in the city. Thus, the program is conducted in stages, according to the regional financial capabilities and priority scale.

Banjarmasin City experienced major flooding in 2021, thus river normalization continues to be maximally promoted.

This year, in addition to river normalization, NUFreP program will also build pump houses and sluice or watergate at three locations, namely at the mouth of Pekapuran River, mouth of Bilu River, and mouth of Gardu River which are directly connected to the Martapura River.