Bira environment study still being considered
Bira environment study still being considered
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja denied yesterday
reports which said that the city administration has accepted,
with annotation, the results of an environmental impact analysis
on the controversial Bira island.
The governor explained that the environmental impact analysis
commission only accepted the document of the analysis but did not
make any decision on it.
The commission had a meeting on Friday to evaluate a study,
conducted on the environmental condition of the island. It was
the fourth meeting held by the commission regarding the Bira
Island case. The commission turned down the analysis for the
development of a golf course project on the island for the third
time last February because the report failed to meet the set
standard.
An environmental impact assessment must be carried out before
a developer can obtain permission for any development project.
Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, head of the City Environment Office,
and the commission's secretary, said over the weekend that the
commission has now accepted the developer's environmental impact
study of Bira Island with certain qualifications.
"We accept the Bira Island environmental analysis on certain
conditions -- we haven't accepted it whole," Aboejoewono said.
"The developer, for example, should make some changes to the
study. The commission has given the consulting firm two weeks to
revise the analysis," he added.
The consulting firm, PT Consartha Indomartha, has agreed to
revise the analysis within the two weeks allowed.
However, these remarks were denied by the governor. "It is not
true that the city has accepted the results of the analysis. I
have asked the commission about the matter and its officials told
me that they were only accepting the document of the analysis and
that they have not made any decision," Surjadi told reporters at
City Hall yesterday.
Asked when the decision on the island will be made, the
governor said that his office will process the report as soon as
possible.
Yesterday, a member of the City Council's Indonesian Democracy
Party faction, Romulus Sihombing, urged the commission to tell
the truth about the results of Friday's meeting.
"Don't make any statement which could cause confusion among
the people. If no decision was made over the study, don't say the
opposite because this is a sensitive matter. Even the President
is interested in the matter," Romulus said.
He said the commission should also give clear facts and
explain the process of the meeting, and its results, to the
governor.
"After that, report the results to the public, so as to make
them understand the problem clearly," he added. (yns/31)