Sand mining worsens erosion in Tanjung Kait<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang<\/p>\n
Illegal sand mining has caused severe erosion in the Tangerang
\ncoastal area of Tanjung Kait. Dozens of hectares of land in the
\narea, on which there used to be houses, shrimp and fishponds,
\nhave been reclaimed by the sea.<\/p>\n
The only evidence of the many houses, which include those of
\na residential complex built by PT Shangrila, is rubble along the
\nbeach. Hundreds of people used to live on the land and have been
\nresettled to other places.<\/p>\n
If the sand mining continues, three villages of the coastal
\narea -- Marga Mulya, Tanjung Anom and Karang Serang -- will
\neventually disappear into the sea and thousands of residents will
\nhave to be resettled.<\/p>\n
Mirwan, 46, an owner of a food and beverage stall near the
\nbeach in Tanjung Anom village, said that he and several other
\nresidents who used to own hectares of land along the beach now
\nhad to live on land belonging to others.<\/p>\n
\"My home and my land were about 300 meters from here,\" he told
\nThe Jakarta Post while pointing out to sea from the beach where
\nhe had built a small bamboo hut.<\/p>\n
But despite it all, illegal mining continues unabated and
\nlocal officials are powerless to stop the sand mining.<\/p>\n
In Marga Mulya village, hundreds of local residents daily
\ndredge sand from the nearest beach, while dozens of trucks come
\nand go to transport the sand.<\/p>\n
\"We can earn Rp 150,000 daily from sand mining. We can sell
\none pickup truck of sand for Rp 80,000, and we are paid as soon
\nas the sand is loaded onto a truck,\" Madroi, a local sand miner,
\ntold the Post.<\/p>\n
Madroi said he and other local sand excavators could collect
\nat least two pickup trucks of sand per day. The local sand miners
\nuse bamboo rafts to take the sand from the beach.<\/p>\n
According to Wardi RS, the village secretary of the village
\nadministration, attempts had been made to stop residents from
\nmining sand but to no avail.<\/p>\n
\"It's a dilemma for village officials to prevent residents
\nfrom digging sand. The majority of the villages' total population
\nof 6,259 people do not have fixed jobs. They rely too much on
\nsand mining as a main source of earnings,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Once we tried to force them to halt the activity, but
\nresidents then staged a rally to protest the village chief's ban
\non sand mining,\" he said, adding that it was a matter of the
\nvillagers earning enough money to feed their families.<\/p>\n
Chief of Tanjung Anom village M. Ali said that the beach
\nerosion had fortunately been minimized due to the establishment
\nof a 800-meter-long breakwater along the beach built by the
\nTangerang regency administration. The stone breakwater is also
\nused by local fishermen to moor their traditional boats.<\/p>\n
\"However, waves still continue to erode other parts of the
\nvillages' 2.5-kilometer-long beach. Over the past 15 years, at
\nleast one kilometer of the beach has been claimed by the sea,\" he
\nsaid, adding that the main cause of the erosion was the rampant
\nsand mining along the beach.<\/p>\n
\"I have repeatedly called on residents, through written
\nletters and face to face discussions, to halt the sand mining as
\nit causes environmental damage, but to no avail.<\/p>\n
\"They always say it is a matter of filling their stomachs,
\nwhich makes me dizzy when they reason like that,\" he said, adding
\nthat if a breakwater had not been built, the whole coastal area
\nwould have been washed away by now.<\/p>\n
Separately, Firdaus, chief of Karang Serang village in
\nSukadiri district, said he was also powerless to stop the sand
\nmining.<\/p>\n
\"I think the government should take stern measures against
\nresidents so that they halt the activity,\" he said. \"To save the
\nvillages from erosion, there is no other way but to build a
\nbreakwater along the beach at a total cost of Rp 1 billion.<\/p>\n
\"We want the government to take a look at the condition of the
\nbeach here and build a breakwater. It's the only way to halt sand
\nmining as a breakwater would push the sand further into the sea
\nand make it very hard to mine it,\" he remarked.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sand-mining-worsens-erosion-in-tanjung-kait-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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