City denies report on reclamation study

JAKARTA (JP): Deputy Governor of Economic and Development Affairs Tb. M. Rais denied reports that an environmental impact study of the North Jakarta Reclamation Project had been rejected.

He said Wednesday both the municipality and the agency were still working on the final report of the project's regional environmental impact study.

Rais was responding to a report on the rejection of the study by the Environmental Impact Management Agency, as first reported by the Bisnis Indonesia daily on Tuesday.

"I never heard of it (the rejection)," Rais said.

It quoted the agency's deputy chairman in charge of environmental impact studies, P.L. Coutrier, as saying the study was rejected because it failed to meet necessary technical requirements.

The chairman of the North Jakarta Reclamation Project board, M. Sidharta, said he was informed Wednesday by the head of the city's environmental office, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, that the report was untrue.

"He (Aboejoewono) met Coutrier this morning, who said the report was not true," Sidharta told The Jakarta Post.

So far, the outline of the regional environmental impact study had been approved. The final study was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The regional environmental impact study for a project planned to reclaim 2,700 hectares, was made compulsory by a 1995 presidential decree.

The project is predicted to be completed by 2010. (ste)