Firm to manage reclamation project set up

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council set up Thursday a joint-venture company to carry out the reclamation project in the North Jakarta coastal area.

The company PT Pembangunan Pantai Utara Jakarta would work under the auspice of the North Jakarta Reclamation Implementation Board and seek cooperation with third parties to invest in and manage different sectors under the project.

The lineup of the company's executives has yet to be revealed.

The establishment of the joint venture company, proposed by the administration, was announced in a plenary meeting between the City administration executives and the City Council.

Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb.M. Rais represented Governor Suryadi Soedirdja in the meeting.

Council Speaker M.H. Ritonga, representatives from the United Development Party, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party attended the meeting at the City Council office.

Ritonga said that the company needed a basic capital of Rp 10 billion (US$4.1million).

But for the time being the money available was only Rp 5 billion. "Rp 4.95 billion of which will come from the city administration, while another Rp 50 million will be from the Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) foundation," he said.

The plenary meeting also agreed that part or the 2,700 hectare land to be reclaimed in the project would be transferred to the company, as an additional of the city investment in the project.

The head of the City's Development Planning Board, Budihardjo Soekmadi, told reporters after the meeting that the price of the land affected by the reclamation project would be based on the market. "The reclamation costs would not affect the price of land," he said.

The municipality would announce the prices of the land values every year, he said. "This is significant to determine the amount of compensation given to residents whose property affected by the project."

The reclamation board had earlier said that the price of the land in the reclaimed are was estimated at US$200 per square meter.

The project, which would consist of residential, business, recreational and tourist attractions, would stretch 32 kilometers along the Jakarta Bay, from Pluit in the west to Cilincing in the east.

The 1997 land prices in Pluit, Penjaringan district ranged from Rp 103,000 (US$42.4) to Rp 2,925,000, while in Cilincing district the values were from Rp 64,000 to Rp 1,573,000. In Tanjung Priok district, the prices were between Rp 128,000 and Rp 2,508,000.

Budihardjo said that the reclamation project would start after the detailed environmental impact analysis was completed.

"Detailed environmental impact analysis is crucial in such a huge project," he said.

So far only the regional environmental impact analysis has been already completed. "The regional analysis functions only as a guideline for environmental management and supervision," Budihardjo said.

Councilor L.H. Sinaga said the outline was already approved by the City's Environmental Impact Analysis Commission and the Environmental Impact Management Agency.

The project, which would reclaim 2,300-hectare of land, not including the 400-hectare land at the Tanjung Priok Port, would be carried out through three stages scheduled to be completed with in 15 years.

The first five-year stage would be used to reclaim a 900- hectare of land, while the second and the third would reclaim another 600 and 800 hectare respectively.

Anthony Salim of the widely diversified Salim group has joined the project and would reclaim 600 hectares in the northern part. (ste)