Amdal team to summon Bira developer
Amdal team to summon Bira developer
JAKARTA (JP): Deputy governor for development affairs Idroes ordered yesterday an environmental impact analysis (Amdal) team to summon executives of PT Pulau Seribu Paradise, the developer of a golf course on Bira Island in North Jakarta.
"The team must summon the developer and its consulting firm to explain to them the progress of the Amdal on Bira Island," Idroes told reporters at his office yesterday.
To ensure that development will not produce unwanted effects on the surrounding environment an Amdal is mandatory for all developers.
On Tuesday, the governor was urged by city councillors to take action over Bira Island following an expression of concern by President Soeharto regarding environmental destruction reportedly occurring on the island. The President underlined the importance of rejuvenating the environment and called for stern action against the developer if it refused to abide by existing regulations.
"We fully support the deputy governor's ordering the Amdal commission to summon the executives of PT Pulau Seribu Paradise and PT Consartha Indomatra, the developer's consulting firm," H. Lukman F. Mokoginta, the chairman of the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party, said yesterday.
"It is important that we have facts about the condition of Bira Island directly from the commission, the developer and its consulting firm," he added.
Aboejoewoono Aboeprajitno, head of the city's environment office and also the secretary of Amdal commission, said that this month the commission would announce the findings of the Amdal study concerning the extent of the destruction of the island.
He said that an independent consulting firm assigned to check the water condition of the island had been slow in carrying out the task.
"An Amdal study involves physical and socio-economic analysis. In the physical analysis, the analysis is concerned with the condition of flora and fauna on the island. The social and economic analysis concerns the impact of the development on the people living on the island. So if the commission has several times turned down the Amdal study of Bira Island there must be manipulation of the data," Lukman said.
Last February, the city administration's commission on environment impact turned down the developer's Bira Island Amdal for the third time.
Under the current regulations, the developer must set aside 40 percent of the island for natural flora. Instead of abiding by the rules, the developer built a golf course on Bira Island and developed a plot of land for flora on nearby Panjang Island.
Lukman said the problem on Bira Island, a member of the Seribu group of islands could not be solved in the same way as problems occurring on, for example, the island of Java.
Last week State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumatmadja instructed PT Pulau Seribu Paradise to carry out an environmental audit on the island.
He also asked the developer to revive those parts of the island, which serve as water catchment areas and to increase the island's bio-diversity.(31)