Aussie expert proposes waterfront project

Aussie expert proposes waterfront project

JAKARTA (JP): A senior Australian urban planning expert has
underlined the need for the Jakarta city administration to
implement the proposed waterfront project as a means of
alleviating the burdens of urbanization.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post Tuesday, Sonja Lyneham, the
principal of Planning Workshop International (PWI), said the
influx of people into the city is so huge that the cities
resources had to be exploited for optimum utility.

"They cannot allow this waterfront area to be under-utilized
-- it is an asset that has not been realized," she said.

Earlier this year the City Council agreed to adopt a plan for
the development of the waterfront area in North Jakarta which
includes the reclamation of land from the city.

The city has thus begun working closely with PWI to draw up a
blue print for the intended development.

PWI is one of Australia's oldest and largest planning and
urban design companies. Based in Sydney, the company is
responsible for the successful development of Darling harbor in
New South Wales and the revitalization of the Kuching waterfront
area in Malaysia.

In Jakarta the company has also been involved with the planned
development of the Sudirman Central Business District (CBD).

The site of the waterfront was inspected on Monday by visiting
New South Wales Premier John Fahey after signing a sister-
province accord with Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja.

Sonja explained that the arrangement between Jakarta and New
South Wales would provide an umbrella for cooperation. This
cooperation would facilitate bringing in New South Wales' experts
from the government and the private sector to tackle the job.

"These are not projects where you can use inexperienced
people...it requires top personnel," she said.

The waterfront project will involve the reclamation from the
sea of about 2,000 hectares of land along a 32-kilometer
coastline in North Jakarta.

The project also involves an elaborate plan which in two-
decades will establish residential areas and a new CBD in the
Sunda Kelapa area.

"It is a waterfront city. ...Jakarta's waterfront should be
its front door, not its back door," Sonja said responding to
criticism leveled against the project.

She pointed out that in the future the project can, "turn the
whole edge of the waterfront into a vital and interesting urban
space." (mds)