Council defends reclamation bill amid criticism

JAKARTA (JP): The city council has defended its decision to approve a bill on a land-reclamation project in North Jakarta, saying that the bill is designed to prevent damage to the environment, including flooding.

Chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction in the council, Lukman F. Mokoginta, said yesterday that the bill, which still requires the approval of the Minister of Home Affairs to become law, clearly sets out the water arrangements for the site earmarked for reclamation.

He said the city administration has an obligation to build flood-control facilities, such as water ducts and sluice gates.

Deputy secretary of the ruling Golkar faction Nitra Arsyad said people who are against the project are not well-informed.

"We accept criticisms, but it would be better if the critics read the bill first, because it contains a formula for avoiding negative effects of the project," Nitra said.

Referring to the harsh criticisms of the project made by former deputy governor Bun Yamin Ramto over the weekend, Lukman said he could understand the Bun Yamin's concern, but said that the flooding foreshadowed by the former deputy governor would only occur if the city administration failed to carry out its flood control programs consistently.

"The city administration should implement its programs consistently because, if it fails to do so, there is no doubt the city will be sunk" Lukman said.

He said the programs consisted of river-normalization and clean river projects; changing the popular habit of dumping garbage into the rivers; the building of more dams; the preservation of existing ponds; the intensification of the reforestation program; controlling the use of artesian wells; and intensifying the cooperation the city's surrounding areas.

Lukman said all the efforts are important, citing as an example the clean river project, locally known as Prokasih, in which the city administration is to clean and dredge all of Jakarta's 13 rivers.

"Cooperation with the greater Jakarta area can control development in southern Jakarta, which is an important area for water catchment for the city," Lukman said.

The city administration has started a land-reclamation project under which it plans to create a total of 2,700 hectares of new land dry along the north coast of Jakarta.

The reclaimed land is to be divided into residential areas, a central business district, a combination of industrial estates and business areas, green areas, mangrove forest, port and industrial areas. (yns)