Former top official slams reclamation plans

Former top official slams reclamation plans

JAKARTA (JP); A former deputy governor says that the ongoing
reclamation project on the North Jakarta coastline will have
disastrous effects on the city's ecology, resulting in a partial
submergence of the capital.

Bun Yamin Ramto, deputy governor for economic and development
affairs from 1984 until 1988, said on Sunday that the city
administration should have realized that the profit obtained in
selling the coast to a private company is nothing when compared
with the environmental destruction that will be wrought by the
reclamation project.

He also criticized the city council for approving the bill on
the scheme. "I have no idea why the city council approved the
bill," he said as quoted by the Kompas daily yesterday. He added
that the council had, effectively, traded environmental damage
for money.

"When I was a deputy governor I refused an application to
carry out coastal land reclamation," he said.

Bun Yamin noted that Jakarta Bay is the mouth for 13 rivers
which flow through the capital city. When the reclamation project
has been completed, the rivers will be obstructed and their
waters will overflow, he predicted, flooding surrounding areas.
The waves in the bay will also be higher, causing tidal flooding,
he added.

The city administration is now cooperating with a private
company to reclaim a 2,700-hectare area along a 32-kilometer
stretch of Jakarta's northern coastline. The reclamation project
requires 200 million cubic meters of sand and mud.

The first stage of the project, involving an area of 500 ha,
is already underway in East Ancol. Siti Hutami E. Adiningsih,
president of PT Manggala Krida Yudha, the developer in charge,
has said that 75 percent of the developed area will belong to the
company, while the remaining 25 percent will be made available
for use by state-owned PT Pelindo II, which is engaged in the
development of a cargo terminal in North Jakarta.

Bun Yamin said the reclamation project is totally against the
1980 city plan for Jakarta. It had been agreed that the sand and
mud in the coastal area should be dredged to enable the rivers
flow into the sea more easily, he said. "We had agreed to
preserve the structure of the coast so as not to disturb the
ecosystem," he added.

He said the 1980 decision was based on experts' studies. He
said the approval of the reclamation plan amounted to a breach of
the agreement reached earlier.

"Many experts have voiced concerns over the reclamation plan,
yet the councilors approved the bill all the same," he said.

Bun Yamin, who is now rector of the National Institute of
Science and Technology in Jakarta, also charged the city
administration with inconsistency in its development planning.
"We can see that it from the flouting of the city's development
zoning plan," he said. (sur)