Pintu Air Manggarai or Manggarai Water Gate is located at the corner of Jl. Tambak, Menteng, Central Jakarta. Manggarai Water Gate was built to control the massive floods that sometimes happened in Jakarta. Floods and Jakarta are two things that are difficult to separate. Since flooding is one of the problems facing Jakarta for a long time. The first massive flooding that hit Jakarta when recorded in 1621, and repeated in 1654, 1671, 1699, 1711, 1714, 1854, 1872, 1893, 1918, 1930, 1942, 1976, 1996, 2002, 2007, to today. Flooding in Jakarta is always has adverse effects, such as flooding in 1872 made the Water Gate before the Masjid Istiqlal was burst, flooding in 1893 made Batavia dubbed as Batavia Onder Water and flooding in 1918 which coincided with the rising prices of rice and ingredients another food that makes people in Batavia sacrifice. The first attempt to tackle flooding in Batavia was first performed by the VOC Governor General Jan Pieterszoon Coen by splitting the Ciliwung River through the construction of canals to facilitate the flow of Ciliwung River to the Java Sea. Canals were built in the colonial period was not only built to help the water flow of rivers that cross Batavia, but for water transportation in the Batavia area.
Massive flooding that hit Batavia back in early 1918 has made the Batavia government at the beginning of 1920 was plan and efforts to tackle flooding. One of the figures very closely with the history of the struggle to overcome the flood Jakarta is Herman van Breen, a hydrological engineer who worked on Burgelijke Openbare Werken which is the forerunner of the Department of Public Works of the Republic of Indonesia. The van Breen plan was quite simple, namely breaking the flow of the river that goes through the Batavia Batavia left and right so that there is no water flow entering the city. On the basis of that plan in 1922 began construction of the West Flood Canal after develop the Manggarai Water Gate. His role as assigned by the Department Waterstaat to lead “Flood Mitigation Plan Drafting Team” integrally covers the entire city of Batavia area that it was only 2,500 ha. After studying the various aspects of the causes of flooding, H van Breen and his team built a flood prevention strategy that was considered quite spectacular at that moment. Admittedly, the precautionary principle is then used as a reference flood the government in dealing with the floods in Jakarta.
The concept van Breen and colleagues is simple, but needs careful calculation and implementation and also high cost. The substance is to control the flow of water from upstream rivers and limit the volume of water entering the city. Therefore, the channel needs to be built on the southern part of the city to accommodate the overflow of water, and then flowed into the sea through the western part of the city. Collector channels are built is now known as the “Flood Canal” cutting Jakarta from Manggarai Water Gate to the Muara Angke.
The selection of Manggarai as a starting point because at that time, this are area south is relatively safe from the flood so more easy to built a control system to facilitate the flow of water in the rainy season. West Flood Canal was built in 1922. From Manggarai Water Gate toward the West, cutting Cideng River, Krukut River, River Forest Grove, continues to Muara Angke. To adjust the flow of water into the city, the canal has some “Water Doors “, among others, Manggarai Water Gate and the Karet Water Gate.. With the West Flood Canal, north of the river is relatively restrained.
It’s not easy to take pictures before the Manggarai Water Gate, because there is a busy road that many vehicles passed in front of Manggarai Water Gate. In the Manggari Water Gate ,you will see a marker that indicates the role of Herman van Breen.
How to get here (see the route map):
From Juanda / Gondangdia / Cikini go to platform 2 and take the Red Line heading to Depok/Bogor then stop at Manggarai Station. Take a 8 minutes walks to the northwest
From Tanah Abang : Go to Platform 3 and take Yellow Line heading to Depok/Nambo/Bogor then stop at Manggarai Station. Take a 8 minutes walks to the northwest
From Sudirman: Go to Platform 2 and take the Yellow Line heading to Depok/Nambo/Bogor then stop at Manggarai Station. Take a 8 minutes walks to the northwest
see the link map or the map below
Reference
Jakarta by Train 
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