Council endorses new bylaw on city's spatial plan
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)