Council endorses new bylaw on city's spatial plan
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council endorsed on Wednesday a new bylaw on the city's spatial plan, effective through 2010, with a provision for more green areas but no other significant changes.
Council speaker Edy Waluyo told a plenary session that he hoped the endorsement would put an end to the past record of breaches of the spatial plan.
"I guarantee that we can reach our goal of making Jakarta a service city and not be left behind by cities in developed countries if all of us abide by the new regulations," he said.
Under the new spatial plan, which consists of 13 chapters and 100 articles, city development will be concentrated in East, West and North Jakarta, with South Jakarta maintained as a water- catchment area.
Development in North Jakarta will be focused on the Thousand Islands, with major tourism and marine attractions, the improvement of the fishery sector and preservation of mangrove forests. A previous plan for a reclamation project in the Jakarta Bay also will be continued.
In West Jakarta, development is concentrated on business and commercial centers, especially in the Kembangan area.
An industrial center will be the specific development project in East Jakarta.
Central Jakarta will be a focus for the development of centers for government offices and economic enterprises.
Under the new plan, the city administration will tightly regulate the expansion of green areas from 7.2 percent of the city's total area of 650 square kilometers at present to 13.94 percent by 2010.
The bylaw eliminates "enclave areas" in the city under the auspices of the central government.
It integrates such "enclaves" like Senayan in South Jakarta and the former airport in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, previously under the auspices of the State Secretary, and Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, which was under the Ministry of Communications.
Several megaprojects will continue, with the exception of the 72-hectare integrated public transportation project at Manggarai, South Jakarta.
Set to proceed are the repeatedly delayed mass rapid transit system, reclamation covering a 2,700-hectare area in the North Jakarta Bay and riverbank developments along the city's 13 major rivers.
The spatial plan was made based on the projection of 12.5 million city residents by 2010 compared to an estimated 9.7 million at present.
Head of Commission D for development affairs Ali Wongso Sinaga said after the plenary session that the new bylaw did not permit Jakartans to buy their way out of preserving the environment.
"In the past, people could pay compensation for having no green areas. But such a mechanism will be restricted now."
Ali said that people who violated the spatial plan through construction activities in the past would not be ordered to conform to the bylaw.
"It's impossible to demolish the problematic buildings, but through the new spatial plan, such practices will be tightly controlled in the future."
The sole member of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction on the council, Lukman Mokoginta, said prevention was the best approach.
"It is a fact that the administration has let people change the spatial plan for the sake of business so that public facilities are subsequently owned by certain groups of people only."
Lukman cited the changing of green areas into shopping complexes or apartments like Park Royal (now Puri Royal) apartment, Mal Taman Anggrek and Mal Ciputra shopping center in West Jakarta.
Other examples include the conversion of lakes and swamps into housing complexes, which occurred in Kelapa Gading and Sunter Agung Podomoro in North Jakarta. (ind)