Analysts slam Sutiyoso's insistence on reclamation

Analysts slam Sutiyoso's insistence on reclamation

Damar Harsanto and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Environmental analysts blasted on Wednesday Governor Sutiyoso's
insistence to go ahead with a reclamation project in the northern
coastal area of Jakarta, saying that he showed no sensitivity to
the ecological problems that would ensue.

Rully Besari Budiyanti of Trisakti University said many
leaders in the city and elsewhere in the country only focused on
economic development while ignoring the environmental impact.

"Before the development project is implemented, decisionmakers
should calculate the impact it will have on the environment, as
the ecological damage would mean serious consequences for
residents. Unfortunately, that aspect is often ignored," Rully
told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

She said the most serious impact resulting from the
reclamation project would be the disappearance of various species
from along the coastal area, which is an ecological transition
point between the land and the sea.

The loss of plankton, for example, would cause all kinds of
marine life to seek food elsewhere and would indirectly affect
fishermen, who depend on fish to make a living.

Another environmental analyst, Marco Kusumawijaya, agreed with
Rully, stressing that the city administration should not ignore
the environmental impact analysis, conducted by the State
Ministry of the Environment.

"People should not get confused over the differences between
the ministry and the city administration as they have no adequate
information about the issue," Marco told the Post on Wednesday.

He said perhaps there was technology that could be applied to
minimize the risks faced by residents if the project was
implemented, but the lack of discipline amid city leaders in
managing that technology would be another problem.

"Based on past experience, the city has been managed with a
lack of discipline, full of deception, therefore people are
worried that this project will pose high risks to them," he said,
adding that many Jakartans were still haunted by the annual
floods.

The environmental and social problems contained in the
environmental analysis include an increase in the sea level,
thousands of fishermen being out of work, damage being done to
the ocean's ecosystem and worsening pollution around the
Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) regency.

Rully and Marco were commenting on Sutiyoso's statements on
Wednesday that he would go ahead with reclaiming over 5,000
hectares even though the results of an environmental impact
analysis by the State Ministry of the Environment stressed that
the project was not feasible.

"The reclamation plan is simply inevitable amid the rapid
growth in the city's population. The capital is overcrowded, not
to mention that there is a mass influx of people, between 200,000
and 250,000, each year," Sutiyoso said in a meeting with some
members of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA).

Sutiyoso argued that his administration could not develop
areas that border with other mayoralties or regencies, such as
Bogor, Depok or Tangerang, owing to their different interests and
that they are under the administration of other provinces.

"In addition, my administration will go ahead with this plan
as we have completed all the requirements, including the
environmental impact analysis," said Sutiyoso.

It was the second statement the governor made this week about
going ahead with the reclamation project. The first statement he
made came after he installed several senior city officials on
Monday.