The head of Cisarua subdistrict in the Bogor highlands has backed a plan by Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo to buy up and destroy all the holiday villas illegally built in the Puncak watershed area.

Teddi Pembang, the subdistrict chief, said he "very much" supported the plan as part of efforts to restore the Puncak area's function as a watershed and thereby prevent flooding downstream in Jakarta.

"If all these villas were to be bought and destroyed, we could reforest the area with hardwood trees and restore the soil's ability to absorb rainwater runoff," he said as quoted by Antaranews.com.

Teddi added there were around 600 such properties in the area, which is a popular weekend destination for Jakarta residents. He also said his administration would volunteer to grow the seedlings needed for the reforestation program.

However, he noted that cracking down on the illegal properties would be difficult, given that most of them were owned by wealthy or influential Jakarta residents and officials. "Let's hope the owners can realize the importance of restoring the watershed function of Puncak," he said.

The main river passing through Jakarta, and the one responsible for most of the flooding that paralyzed the capital in mid-January, is the Ciliwung, which winds through Puncak but has seen its watershed area reduced considerably as a result of deforestation and the illegal construction of private homes.

The area originally drained by the river and its tributaries is around 29,186 hectares, according to Forest Watch Indonesia, an environmental group.

However, the amount of that area still covered by forest is just 3,565 hectares, or 12 percent of what it should be. The rest of the river's watershed has been deforested or developed on, thereby severely diminishing its capacity to absorb rainwater.

The Public Works Ministry said last month that it would re-evaluate zoning bylaws in the Greater Jakarta area, including in the Puncak and Cianjur highland areas that are the sources of the capital's main rivers, in light of the severity of the flooding that hit Jakarta and left dozens dead.

It attributed the inability of the ground to absorb high rates of rainfall on the unfettered development of buildings and paved areas in both the upstream and downstream areas of major waterways such as the Ciliwung, and said planning authorities had failed to ensure each new development's compliance with a minimum required proportion of open green space.