Feasibility study on waterfront city underway: Official

Feasibility study on waterfront city underway: Official

JAKARTA (JP): A feasibility study of the Waterfront City
Project will be ready in six months, Deputy Governor in charge of
Economic and Development Affairs, Tb. M. Rais said yesterday.

He said discussions were underway about a memorandum of
understanding with contractors for the project which would be
built on 2,700 hectares on the north Jakarta coast.

On Wednesday Governor Surjadi Soedirdja sought support from
legislators on the project.

The plan is to build a waterfront city complete with housing,
recreational facilities and a business center.

It will stretch 32 kilometers of the Jakarta Bay from Pluit in
the west to Cilincing in the east.

He told Commission II for Administrative Affairs members the
project had the necessary Presidential Decree authorizing the
city to coordinate its implementation.

But he said the project still needed a decree from the
Minister of Transportation.

Earlier the project was regulated by a joint decree between
the city, the Ministry of Transportation and the National Land
Agency.

The project needs Ministry of Transportation approval because
it has jurisdiction over sea-related projects.

Surjadi told legislators the joint decree should be annulled
because the city now had a presidential decree.

The project could immediately start once the Ministry of
Transport issued a permit, Surjadi said.

He guaranteed the project would not increase flood problems
because it was thoroughly planned. When the project was first
announced critics said it might worsen Jakarta's flood problem.

Yesterday after meeting the Jakarta Waterfront Development
Project, the body the city formed to supervise the plans, Surjadi
hinted the city would go ahead with the project which is
scheduled to start this year.

Rais said contractors for the project's first phase included
PT Manggala Karya Yudha and PT Pembangunan Jaya.

PT Manggala, owned by President Soeharto's youngest daughter
Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih, has accumulated 75 hectares. It
plans to invest Rp 1 trillion (US454.54 million) on 500 hectares.

Also on Wednesday Surjadi told legislators the subway project
still had funding problems.

He said Germany had offered soft loans but the government did
not allow soft loans to be borrowed from foreign countries.

The Indonesian Japanese European consortium, which wants to
build the subway, wants the city to pay Rp 2.2 trillion of the
project's estimated Rp 4.2 trillion.

But Surjadi said this was too expensive for the city. (ste)