City to reevaluate analysis of PIK

City to reevaluate analysis of PIK

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso has said that the city
administration would reevaluate the environmental impact analysis
of the Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) housing complex in North Jakarta
following speculative reports of its role in the flood on the
Soekarno-Hatta Airport toll road last month.

"The reevaluation is necessary to assess the real cause of the
flood and to get a more objective picture of PIK's impact on its
surroundings," he told reporters at City Hall on Friday.

"Had the PIK developer met all the technical and environmental
requirements to develop the area? Did the PIK management make any
effort to prevent any environmental damages?" he added.

He said the city administration would set up a reevaluation
team on PIK, while Deputy Governor for Development Affairs
Budihardjo Sukmadi and City Secretary's Assistant for
Administration and Development Affairs Ongky Sukasah would lead
the team.

"I also have ordered the City Planning and the City
Development Supervision Agencies to reevaluate the spatial
planning in the area. I want to know whether PIK is appropriate
in the area or not," the governor said.

Sutiyoso vowed to make a prudent decision should the
evaluation results put PIK in the wrong position.

"We can't make emotional and hasty decisions on such an
important matter," he said in response to calls to demolish the
housing complex.

"I can simply order it done, but is it the best way?"

He said all rehabilitation construction on the toll road would
start on April 1.

Earlier on Thursday, Ongky met the City Council's Commission D
for Development Affairs discussing the presence of the housing
complex. Present at the meeting were several heads of city
agencies related to the project.

The cause of the recent flood had become a debated issue among
environmentalists and city officials. Some blamed the housing
complex for the flood, while others blamed different factors.

Head of City Environmental Impact Management Agency
Aboejoewono said the arguments should be aimed at achieving a
common perception of how to solve the problem and to prevent it
from happening again in the future.

"It's better to find a way to avoid the flood rather than to
find who to blame," he said.

Blame

On the other hand, Aboejoewono questioned toll road operator
PT Jasa Marga for its failure to submit an Environmental Impact
Analysis on the toll road project to the environmental impact
management agency as required by the regulations.

"We need to study the analysis to get a better picture of the
environmental conditions in the area," he said.

Ongky said the city administration had ordered the PIK
developer, PT Mandara Permai, to do additional work to help
overcome the flood.

"They will rehabilitate the mangrove forest along the
coastline, five kilometers long and 100 meters wide, to the
Tangerang borderline. It's expected to retain more water," he
said.

Head of City Public Works Agency Fadly Khatib said his agency
would continue the construction of a 6-meter wide canal linking
the Kamal and the Tunjungan rivers.

"We will build canals on each side of the toll road," he said,
while citing the current construction on the northern side.

"We will also widen the Kamal River to 45 meters from six
meters and Tunjungan River to 35 meters from two meters," he
added.

He said PT Jasa Marga had agreed to build bridges crossing
both rivers.

Most councilors, however, were dissatisfied with the
officials' statement and demanded a more thorough solution to the
problem.

Commission D deputy chairman, Saud Rachman, suggested that the
city administration should simply build an elevated toll road on
the inundated spots.

"It is also important to ask former city administration
officials who are suspected to have been involved in granting
permits to the PIK development project," he said.

Saud also agreed to punish the developer by ordering them to
construct more works to avoid floods.

"But we have to audit carefully the contributions they make to
rehabilitate the area," he said.

Councilor Bimo Hastoro said it was important for developers to
think about the people in the surrounding areas who might be
affected by the development.

"The developer also has to construct necessary public works to
compensate for the ecological changes they've made," he said.

Separately, the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI)
calculated that the area could retain more than nine million
cubic meters of water previous to the development of PIK. The
capacity shrank to only one-third or some three million cubic
meters after construction. (05)