Council protests supermarket project

BEKASI: Bekasi City Council speaker Rahmat Efendy said on Wednesday the council had demanded that Mayor Akhmad Zurfaih immediately suspend the development of a Makro & Carry supermarket in Margajaya.

The council reportedly objected because no environmental impact assessment was performed for the project.

Rahmat added that the supermarket was also being built on disputed land.

"The mayor backed the project by issuing a recommendation letter. Therefore, we demand the mayor cancel his recommendation as well as suspend the ongoing project."

The chairman of the council's Commission C overseeing financial affairs, Lilik Hariyoso, said the 21,277 square meters of land being used for the project was claimed by both city water supplier Perum Jasa Tirta II and local residents.

Perum Jasa Tirta II received the property after it was procured by the public works department in 1959.

Residents staged a rally three weeks ago to protest the projects, which they could also cause flooding in the area.

Environmentalist Benny Tunggul Hasiholan said the project had the potential to cause flooding because the proposed supermarket would be on higher ground than the surrounding neighborhoods. -- Antara