City to set up firm in North Jakarta reclamation plan

JAKARTA (JP): The city plans to form a company to set up joint ventures to carry out its 2,700-hectare reclamation project in North Jakarta, a high ranking official said.

Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb. M. Rais said Monday the company would be supervised by the North Jakarta Reclamation Implementation Board.

The project is to transform the polluted, industrial area into an attractive business, residential and tourist site.

Rais said the plan needed to be approved by the City Council.

He announced the plan to set up "PT Pembangunan Pantai Utara Jakarta" at a City Council meeting Monday.

The meeting discussed the draft of a bill on the plan and the city investment in the company.

The draft bill said the company would allow the board to concentrate on policy matters and its one-stop permit processing service. The company would seek cooperation with third parties to invest in and manage the sectors under the project.

For instance, the firm could coordinate the setting up of a joint venture between the city water company and private firms for the supply of water in the area.

In the proposed draft the city would invest Rp 4.95 billion of a total initial investment of Rp 10 billion. Korpri (Civil Servants Corp) Foundation would invest Rp 50 million. This would give the city a 99 percent share in the company and Korpri one percent.

The draft also rules that part or all of the reclaimed land would be transferred to the company, as an additional city share in the project.

Councilor Romulus Sihombing of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction said yesterday the council should agree in writing on the draft of the bill on the company.

"The council's approval is particularly important in the transfer of city assets," he said.

Authority

Meanwhile Rais said earlier problems of overlapping authority, particularly with the Ministry of Transportation, had been settled.

He said it was only a matter of "increasing the involvement" of ministry officials.

Earlier Governor Surjadi Soedirdja had told legislators that the city, though backed by a presidential decree giving it sole authority in the project, still faced legal problems.

A joint ministerial decree from the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Home Affairs gives the ministry of transport responsibility over the beach areas.

Meanwhile, the 1995 presidential decree on which the North Jakarta Reclamation Implementation Board is based, rules that all the necessary permits go through the board.

Romulus, who was at the Monday meeting, said the problem was settled by the project's steering committee, headed by Chairman of the National Development Planning Board, Ginandjar Kartasasmita.

Ministry of Transportation officials should be more involved on the committee, not on the Reclamation Board, Romulus said. (anr)