Current city planning to be reviewed: Governor

Current city planning to be reviewed: Governor

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is reviewing the urban planning for the period between 1985 and 2005 in an effort to accommodate the development process.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said in a plenary hearing yesterday the review is needed because the administration realizes that the current planning can no longer keep up with the rapid pace of development.

"The current city planning arrangements can no longer meet the needs of the development process, therefore we are reviewing it to keep abreast of development in the future," Tb. M. Rais, deputy governor for economics and development, who read the governor's written speech, said.

He said that the review is expected to be completed next year.

Recently, Rais said the new plans will take flood conditions in the city into account.

"It will be dangerous if we don't match the city planning with the city's water condition," he said, adding that it will also be used to form flood master plan.

Rais said the water condition in the city has become worse due to the development process and the only way to cope with the problem is bringing environmental conditions into the equation.

He said currently the city development board is still evaluating the city's water conditions. It is expected to come up with the finished research this year, and the results will be used as the basis for the new city planning, he said.

"Actually, the evaluation should have been done much earlier because the city's environment is deteriorating rapidly." (yns)