HUNDREDS OF BANJARMASIN'S RIVERS GONE

Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, April 22 (ANTARA) - Hundreds of rivers have disappeared in Banjarmasin over the past two years, according to a local official.

Only tens of rivers were currently flowing in Banjarmasin which was previously known as a "city of one thousand rivers", Muryanta, head of the Banjarmasin river and drainage office, said here on Wednesday.
According to the 2002 data, the provincial capital of South Kalimantan had 207 rivers, he said.
"Later the number has dropped and reached only 74 rivers in Banjarmasin in 2004," he said.
He said his office was currently making an inventory on the city's rivers to get the latest data.
This year, the river and drainage office also began to normalize the existing rivers in the city.
The river normalization was expected to help the city deal with flood problems as Banjarmasin was about 16 centimeters below the sea level, Muryanta said.
The Banjarmasin river and drainage office got an allocation of funds amounting to Rp2.6 billion for the normalization program of eight rivers, he explained, adding that muds in the rivers would be dug out.
The eight rivers are those on Jafri Zam-Zam, Saka Permai, Belitung, Beruntung Jaya, Banjar Indah, anak sungai Pemurus and Perdagangan streets.
He also urged local residents not to build houses along the river banks.
Floating markets have been a tourist attraction in Banjarmasin, which is abundant of wide and mighty rivers, where farmers and traders bring their goods to trade on boats.
Meanwhile, according to Ministry of Forestry, about 60 percent of 458 river basin areas (DAS) found in various parts of Indonesia are now in damaged condition.
"Damage to DAS areas is probably more than 60 percent. We are still making an inventory of DAS in bad condition," River Basin Management Director of the Forestry Ministry Dr Silver Hutabarat said recently.