Bappenas denies getting relocation proposal
Bappenas denies getting relocation proposal
JAKARTA (JP): National Development Planning Board (Bappenas)
officials denied yesterday a recent media report that it had
received a proposal to move Jakarta's central administration
outside Jakarta.
"The only project proposal we received is for a housing
complex and a sports and recreation center in Jonggol," Herman
Haeruman, the board's regional division deputy said.
Herman said Bappenas has previously issued permits to a number
of developers to build housing developments in a 30,000-hectare
Jonggol plot, about 50 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, turning
it into a new satellite city.
The project's master plan does not give the slightest hint of
relocating the central administration, he said.
The Bisnis Indonesia daily reported that a consortium of
developers comprising the Kaestindo Group and President
Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, had submitted a relocation
proposal to Bappenas.
Last September Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
issued a decree allowing the Bukit Jonggol forest area to be
converted into a housing estate and PT Bukit Jonggol Asri was
appointed to develop the project.
Bukit Jonggol was originally managed by the state-owned
forestry company, Perum Perhutani.
Djamaludin said the company had agreed to trade the Bukit
Jonggol forest with other forested areas in the West Java
regencies of Cianjur, Tasikmalaya and Garut.
Herman said Bappenas would study such a proposal if the
consortium submitted it. He reiterated, however, that Jakarta
remains the capital as is stipulated in the presidential decree.
He said a capital city must have an airport, which Jonggol
does not have. Besides, Jonggol functions as a water catchment
for Bekasi. Developing a project in the protected forest areas of
Jonggol may flood Bekasi, a suburb East of Jakarta, he said.
Another Bappenas official, Budhy Tjahjati Soegiyoko, said the
project should not be the city's primary goal as it would be very
expensive and was not in line with the government's austere
budget policy.
An official of the Environmental Impact Management Agency,
Bapedal, said any development which involved changes to spatial
plans needed the House of Representatives' approval.
Teguh Soedarsono, the Agency's information officer, said
environmental analysis also had to be done before a developer
started its project.
Under government regulations, no protected forest areas
are allowed to be developed. (04/anr)