Indonesia decided to build a huge sea wall to save the capital

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he wanted to urgently build a huge sea wall around Jakarta to prevent it from sinking into the sea.

President Joko Widodo and his government are "racing against time" as experts predict that at the current rate, a third of Jakarta may be submerged by 2050.

The existential crisis that Indonesia's capital is facing is the culmination of decades of relentless development, the result of urban planning noncompliance and the mistake of officials and benefit-givers. individuals up above common interests.

Indonesians walk near the sea wall to prevent flooding in Jakarta.(Photo: AP).

Due to the lack of a comprehensive plumbing network, businesses and households have exploited massive groundwater arbitrarily - the main cause of subsidence in northern Jakarta, home to several million people.

In this area, the land subsides at "dizzy" speed, up to 10cm per year (ie 1m for 10 years), along with rising sea levels due to the global warming, this will be a serious problem. in the next few decades.

President Widodo said on July 26 that it was time to promote the construction of the sea wall, a project the government had considered a decade ago.

"This huge project needs to be completed quickly to prevent Jakarta from sinking into the sea , " he said.

The president said he was determined to promote key projects and reforms, even if they were unpopular, according to the South China Morning Post.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is determined to build a giant sea wall around Jakarta to prevent it from sinking into the sea.(Photo: South China Morning Post).

Widodo also mentioned other ambitious plans for Jakarta, a crowded, polluted metropolis that only has a capacity of 10 million people, has now ballooned to three times that number.

Jakarta is considered one of the fastest sinking cities in the world, the result of unfavorable geography and mismanagement.

The city lies on the muddy ground with 13 heavily polluted rivers running through. The main cause of it sinking is due to over-exploitation of groundwater. Moreover, the weight of high-rise buildings built in recent years has also increased "pressure" on the ground.

Heri Andreas, an Earth scientist at Indonesia's Bandung Institute of Technology, said in some areas of northern Jakarta, where the ground is 2-4 meters below sea level, now sinks to about 20cm each. year.

"Jakarta is sinking , " said Andreas, an expert on measuring the shape of the Earth. "If it continues to sink at the same rate, 95% of northern Jakarta will be submerged by 2050."

He said the water would then sink about one-third of the city.