Government endorses Punclut project<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung<\/p>\n
Despite environmental concerns, the Bandung municipal
\nadministration has given the green light to the development of
\nthe Punclut conservation area in north Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada recently announced his
\nadministration had approved plans to develop an agro-tourism
\nproject on more than 100 hectares of land in Punclut. The project
\nwill include greenhouses and a jogging track.<\/p>\n
Punclut can be reached via Jl. Ciumbeuleuit, which runs
\ndirectly to Lembang. The area is crowded with tourists, both
\nlocal and foreign, and residents shopping along the sidewalks and
\njogging around a track on weekends.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of sidewalk vendors set up in the area, mostly
\nselling vegetables, fruits and Sundanese specialties such as nasi
\ntimbel (rice wrapped in banana leaves). These vendors, who
\nreportedly can make hundreds of millions of rupiah, apparently
\ndrew the interest of developers, who thought they could make even
\nbigger profits by doing the same thing as the vendors, only on a
\nlarger scale.<\/p>\n
Bandung Development Planning Agency head Tjetje Subrata said
\npermits had been issued to at least three developers for the
\narea. PT Dam Utama Sakti received a permit to develop 80
\nhectares, PT Mulya Sejati 30 hectares and PT Trigana will develop
\na 0.9 hectare plot of land.<\/p>\n
\"The developers obtained the permits in 2000 from the former
\nmayor, Aa Tarmana, but the status of the land they will develop
\nis still unclear. We will give them the opportunity to develop
\nthe land, but 80 percent of the Punclut area must be 'regreened'
\nfirst,\" Tjetje told The Jakarta Post recently.<\/p>\n
He said developing Punclut could help prevent further damage
\nby squatters who build shanties in the area. However, he
\nacknowledged that any development work could cause controversy
\nbecause it would require the eviction of some residents.<\/p>\n
He said an area of land occupied by eight community units of
\nmore than 1,700 families, or 7,500 residents, would have to be
\ncleared. A large number of these residents do not possess land
\nownership certificates and most of them are living on state land,
\nhe claimed.<\/p>\n
In order to avoid conflicts in the area of the planned Punclut
\ndevelopment, the municipality is at the moment working out an
\nagreement with several NGOs and residents.<\/p>\n
The City Council also seems to have given the green light, if
\nnot enthusiastically, to the development plan. The head of the
\ncouncil's Commission D for residential and transportation
\naffairs, Idris Yusuf Lubis, said: \"Just let the developers handle
\nit. The municipality is now overwhelmed and does not have
\nsufficient funds.\"<\/p>\n
He said the government could not afford to buy the entire plot
\nof land and turn it into a conservation area because the city
\ndevelopment budget this year -- 12 percent of the Rp 1 trillion
\n(US$111 million) provincial budget -- was not sufficient.<\/p>\n
However, the decision to entrust Punclut to developers has
\nangered some residents in the area. Ida Farida, 40, a resident of
\nCipicung Girang, said she had given up talking about the plan.
\nSince 1997, she has had her land ownership certificates revoked
\nby the National Land Agency.<\/p>\n
\"They say that there will not be any development in the north
\nof Bandung, including Punclut, but lately it seems that
\nresidents' land will be handed over to the developers,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Sutiah, 36, a resident of Cipicung Hilir, said she did not
\ncare about the plan as long as she and her family were
\ncompensated for their house and land.<\/p>\n
NGOs also are divided over the development plan. Tjetje
\nclaimed that many local NGOs had voiced support for the project.
\nBut an expert from the Sundanese Environmental and Observer
\nCouncil, Sobirin, has gone on record with his objections.<\/p>\n
He said that anyone planning to develop Punclut had to offer
\nguarantees that they would reforest the area in order to preserve
\nwater resources in Bandung.<\/p>\n
A 1995 study by Bandung Institute of Technology hydrologist
\nArwin Sabar found that only 30 percent to 40 percent of water
\ncatchment areas in northern Bandung were still functioning.<\/p>",
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