Jakarta Risks Being 25% Underwater by 2025

• 25 January 2019
• Local News
• 2600 Views

Research by an Indonesian university has shown that 25% of Indonesian capital Jakarta could be permanently flooded by 2025.

The findings by the Bandung Institute of Technology indicate that Jakarta is considered the fastest sinking city in the world. Home to 13 million people, Jakarta has 13 rivers running through it and is situated on a huge swamp.

Overdevelopment and a lack of proper planning in the city’s early growth have resulted in too much concrete and asphalt which prevents adequate rainwater drainage. Subsidence first began over 40 years ago and the city is now sinking at 11cm per year. In Pluit, a northern suburb, the ground level has sunk by 4m.

Potential solutions being explored range from installing massive river pumps to moving the capital altogether.

• Analysis