Experts give conditional support to reclamation
Experts give conditional support to reclamation
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Environmental technology experts with the Agency for the
Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) have thrown their
weight behind the city administration's plan to reclaim northern
coastal areas, despite the opposition of the Office of the State
Minister for the Environment.
However, this support is conditional on the administration
fulfilling certain conditions set by the BPPT.
One of the experts, Wahyu Purwanto, said on Thursday during a
seminar that the administration must begin to address various
weaknesses in its plan, which were pointed out by the
environmental minister in Decree No. 14/2003.
In the decree, the minister rejects the plan to reclaim 2,500
hectares of land along the 23 kilometers of coastal area between
Tangerang and Bekasi.
Wahyu also called on the administration not to continue its
legal battle with the state minister's office.
"This problem cannot be resolved through legal action. The
administration should revise its plan as advised (by the state
minister's office)," he said.
The administration has filed a lawsuit, through six companies,
against the state minister's office.
The office rejected the administration's reclamation proposal
based on the results of a study by the Environmental Impact
Analysis. The office said the reclamation could proceed only if
the project was totally redesigned.
Wahyu said the reason the plan was rejected was the
administration's failure to explain how it would solve potential
problems caused by the reclamation, including flooding and waste
management.
Another expert, Arie Herlambang, questioned whether the
reclaimed land would be able to meet its clean water needs
without burdening surrounding areas.
"Will residents of the reclaimed land be ready to buy clean
water produced through desalination, which will cost much more
than groundwater," he said.
The director of the BPPT Center for Environmental Technology,
Tusy A. Adibroto, said the administration had to anticipate the
effects of the reclamation.
She said the administration would have to dredge rivers,
construct the East Flood Canal and cooperate with neighboring
administrations in Bogor, Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang to improve
river catchment areas.
The administration has proposed building luxury housing
estates, hotels, condominiums, industrial zones, business
centers, shopping malls, offices, seaports and recreational
places on the reclaimed land.
The project is expected to take 30 years to complete. The
administration has projected a Rp 12 trillion profit from the
venture.