Fishermen fall victim to waterfront project

Fishermen fall victim to waterfront project

JAKARTA (JP): More than 15,000 fishermen, living along
Jakarta's northern shoreline in East Jakarta, will have to give
up their houses and livelihood when construction of the gigantic
Water Front City (WFC) project gets underway.

"Basically we agree with the construction of this Water Front
City project, as long as the officials in charge pay due
attention to the plight of the fishermen living around the
project. The developer should bear in mind that construction of
the project is for the people's welfare," Saud Rahman, a member
of city council's Commission D, said yesterday.

At the moment the total number of fishermen in Jakarta is
17,406, 6,586 of whom are natives of Jakarta, and the others
hailing from various other regions in Indonesia.

An official of North Jakarta's fisheries department, Warto,
confirmed that the majority of fishermen would have to move from
the area affected by the project.

"The fishermen who have Jakarta ID cards will still be able to
live in nearby Muara Angke and operate in Jakarta's sea as usual.
They are also allowed to sell their fish at Muara Baru and Muara
Angke fish auction sites," he added.

Saud said that the developer should build public and social
facilities for the fishermen who are not affected by the
construction of the project."If necessary, the developer should
build low cost apartments for the fishermen," he added.

The head of Jakarta's fisheries department office, Soemaryo
Wijoyo, said that his office has given some information to the
fisherman. The majority of the fishermen, to be affected by the
project, have not objected to the construction of the project, he
said.

"We have informed them of the plan and so far we have not
received any complaints from them," Soemaryo said.

The fishermen have been living there since 1977 and there are
936 houses belonging to them in Muara Angke, which is located in
Pluit, Penjaringan. (31)