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Jakarta said to be sinking as water table is drained
The Indonesian capital Jakarta has sunk by up to 91 centimetres in six years because of overbuilding and the draining of its groundwater.
The Jakarta mining agency chief Muzahiem Muchtar told a parliamentary hearing that various parts of this city and its suburbs, with a population of around ten-million, have been sinking between four and 91 centimetres between 1993 and 1999.
Mr Muchtar, quoted by the Jakarta Post, says the impact of groundwater extraction on land subsidence accounted for about 19 percent of the subsidence while the weight of buildings on the land was responsible for about 80 percent.
Other natural processes accounted for the remaining one percent.
Mr Muchtar says the exploitation of groundwater should be minimised to sustainable levels. If groundwater is over-exploited, not only will the groundwater disappear but it will also hasten land subsidence.
He proposed taxes to discourage groundwater usage, adding that only 7.5 percent of groundwater use was regulated by his office.
22/05/2002 22:51:13 | ABC Radio Australia News
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