City denies report on reclamation study

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)