Government promises crackdown in Puncak
Government promises crackdown in Puncak
JAKARTA (JP): As the floods that crippled the city ebbed away, the government renewed its determination yesterday to tighten control of development in the Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur area, where most of the city's 13 rivers originate.
Under a presidential decree, the Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur area has been designated as a water catchment area vital to Jakarta and the surrounding areas, and development ought to be closely supervised.
The new enthusiasm for applying existing laws at the holiday resorts which have long been wealthy Jakartans' playground was sparked by the National Spatial Planning Coordination Board.
The board chaired by Minister of National Development Planning/Chairman of the National Planning Board Ginandjar Kartasasmita coordinates representatives from the state ministry of population, the public works ministry, the ministry of defense and the national land agency.
State Minister of the Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said yesterday that the board has recommended that building activities in restricted areas be stopped, old plantations be changed into forests, and more water catchment pits be built.
"Actually, building activities in the area would not necessarily pose a problem if the laws had been properly enforced," he told journalists after opening a one-day seminar on environment sponsored by the Association of Hotels and Restaurants.
The uncontrolled development in the Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur area has been partly blamed for the latest three days worth of flooding in Jakarta. At least twenty people were killed, thousands of families fled their inundated homes and traffic was brought to a standstill between Saturday and Monday.
Sarwono said that the government will not extend permits for old plantations. The locations will, instead, be reforested to enable the land to absorb more rain water.
The National Spatial Planning Coordination Board has concluded that Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur is rapidly being swallowed up by real estate developers.
Besides, Sarwono said, forested areas aimed to protect the water catchment have not been expanded.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) urged the city administration to scrap its plan to reclaim 2,700 hectares of Jakarta Bay mainly for tourist and business centers.
In a statement signed by activists Emmy Hafild and Chalid Muhammad, Walhi said the reclamation project would only worsen the city's flooding problem because it would obstruct water flows into the bay.
"If anything is to blame for the recent major flooding, it is the city administration's apparent inability to implement the spatial planning it has made," the statement said.
For example northern Jakarta is zoned for agriculture because the unstable land is not suitable for building. But in reality, the administration will have all the swamps and tidal land in northern Jakarta reclaimed for tourism and housing projects, the statement said.
"Some reclamation projects in Jakarta Bay have been made possible by close relations between city officials and real estate entrepreneurs. Officials have turned a deaf ear to the City Council's advice," it added. (pan)