JAYAPURA - The Head of the Papua Public Works and Spatial Planning Office (PUPR), Amos Wenda, inspected the location of the cliff in the Ringroad area of Jayapura City, Thursday (6/2/2025). The cliff experienced a landslide due to heavy rain on January 20, 2025.

The damaged cliff needs immediate repairs, with an estimated budget estimated at under IDR 5 billion. "We predict that the repair cost will not be more than IDR 5 billion. However, we must ensure that the planning and execution run appropriately so that this problem does not recur in the future," Amos said.

According to him, this landslide is not only caused by natural factors, but also due to technical errors in initial planning.

"One of the main obstacles is the inadequate use of materials, including iron measuring only 8 mm which will be replaced with 16 mm iron in the repair project," said Amos.

However, Amos said, budget availability is still a challenge. The General Allocation Fund (DAU) cut of IDR 180 billion has an impact on the infrastructure budget in Papua. "In fact, funds from DAU that have been supporting various projects have also been reduced by IDR 65 billion," he said.

In the repair process, Amos emphasized that the approach that will be taken is not only to rebuild the affected part, but also to trim the top of the cliff to reduce the burden of soil at risk of landslides again.

"Based on the analysis, adding a structure at the bottom will not be effective. The solution is to trim the top of the cliff so that downward pressure can be reduced. This will also save costs compared to having to rebuild with a larger structure," he said.

Although these repairs are urgent, Amos admitted that the project could not be started immediately without budget certainty and legal guarantees.

"I hope there is communication with Bapperida so that the work can start first. But if there is no legal guarantee, then we have to wait for the budget to be available before the project goes ahead," he concluded. ***