| Aceh River Krueng Aceh | |
|---|---|
 Aceh river inPeunayong,Banda Aceh | |
  Location of river mouth Show map of Aceh Aceh River (Sumatra) Show map of Sumatra Aceh River (Indonesia) Show map of Indonesia | |
| Location | |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Province | Aceh |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Length | 145 km (90 mi)[1] |
TheAceh River on the island ofSumatra inIndonesia flows from mountains that include the 2,780-metre high MountPeuët Sagoë for some 200 kilometres northeastward to reach the junction of theIndian Ocean and theAndaman Sea atBanda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's westernmostAceh province.[1][2] The river has a catchment area of some 1775 square kilometres.[3]
The river has a flow of up to 30,000 cubic meters per second.[4] This enormous flow frequently flooded Banda Aceh and the land upstream from the town.
TheJapanese Government provided Indonesia an aid package to reduce flooding. From 1986 to 1992 the Japanese consultantsPacific Consultants International[5] with Japanese, South Korean and Indonesian contractors reconstructed the river's seaward-end 25 kilometres and built a diversion channel almost entirely preventing flooding.
The Britishcivil engineerPeter Hines[6] was the coordinator for the six years of documentation and meetings agreed to be in English for theIndonesian, Japanese, and Korean languages needed on site and inDjakarta, the capital city ofIndonesia. By the 1980s, theEnglish language had recently become the world's businesslingua franca.[7]
50 kilometres of 8-metre plastic mattresses were woven inHeathcoat Fabrics' factory inTiverton,England, and on site sewn together and filled withgrout to line the sandy river banks.[8]
The project included 12 bridges (designed to span the enormousseaward river flow): 11 survived undamaged the26 December 2004 undersea 9.3-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that killed some 31,000 Banda Aceh people andswept water up some 40 kilometres of the river. The 12th bridge (the closest bridge to the sea) collapsed because it had asingle pre-cast beam as it was only a pedestrian bridge linking two fishing villages (these villages were completely destroyed by the tsunami).
AfterPresident Suharto had made a speech at the opening ceremony, he was asked by an 80-year-old man if another bridge could be built to reduce the distance he cycled to his farmland. The President replied"Carry on cycling and you will live for ever!".[7]
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5°21′05″N95°33′45″E / 5.3512726°N 95.5623695°E /5.3512726; 95.5623695