BPN Batam Affirms Illegal Sea Plots Will Not Be Certified

The National Land Agency (BPN) of Batam City has issued a stern warning regarding the rampant practice of parcelling out and selling sea plots without official permission in the region. BPN has confirmed that marine areas that have not undergone proper reclamation and legal licensing procedures cannot be issued land title certificates.

Head of the Administrative Subdivision of BPN Batam City, Heri Irwanto, explained that the issuance of land title certificates is subject to strict requirements, particularly concerning the clarity of legal status and the physical existence of the land object. He emphasised that the object eligible for certification must be land with a clear and clean status.

“Based on the examination by the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/BPN, no land certificates have been found at the locations in question to date. If there is no legal permit and implementation of reclamation, BPN will not issue a certificate,” Heri stated in a release received on Sunday (9/8/2026).

According to Heri, areas beyond the coastline are marine territories subject to maritime law, not land law. This aligns with a statement by the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of BPN, Nusron Wahid, who previously highlighted the illegal sale of sea plots in Batam.

Marine areas are affirmed as public spaces that cannot be unilaterally transferred for private interests without a complex legal procedure. BPN is committed to rejecting any application for certification of land created through illegal reclamation or lacking complete licensing documents.

To convert a marine area into a land title object, a series of legal stages must be fulfilled by the developer or applicant. This firm measure is taken by BPN Batam to maintain legal certainty over land in the border region and to prevent the illegal occupation of marine areas that harms public and state interests.