Governor knows nothing about Jonggol project

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday he had not been contacted by a group of developers who proposed relocating the city's administration center to Jonggol, on Jakarta's outskirts.

"I have not heard any details of the project except from what I've read in the newspaper," he said after a city administration social function.

The governor was responding to a report which said a group of developers, led by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, had proposed the relocation of ministries from the capital to Jonggol about 40km south of Jakarta.

Surjadi said the plan, if implemented, would increase the ministries' efficiency.

Surjadi also spoke of the need for a single authority to manage the environment in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi.

"At least for Jabotabek, we need one spatial plan and one authority to manage the environment in the area," he said.

Developers Bambang Trihatmodjo and the Kaestindo Group have provided a 30,000 hectare-plot in Jonggol as the new location for governmental agencies.

Jonggol has also been designed for the relocation of the Senayan sport and recreation centers as well as a mini Safari park like the one Cipanas, West Java, which houses endangered animal species.

Citing badly constructed areas in Jakarta, which are prone to floods during the wet season, Surjadi said developers should take environmental issues into consideration so Jakarta's environment does not deteriorate.

Calling on the developers not to pollute and destroy the area surrounding the project, the governor said the developers should not plague Jonggol with Jakarta's ills.

Meanwhile, city council speaker, M.H. Ritonga, said he supported the relocation project because it would help smooth the operation of the ministries and their related agencies.

"There has even been suggestions to move the capital's administration to remote Kalimantan," he said, stressing that moving a capital is common in other countries.

However Ritonga said new developments and projects in the Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi areas were quite risky for the environment unless they were carefully handled.

"Experts have alerted the administration to study new project proposals in the areas before implementing them," he said.

The Bisnis Indonesia daily reported yesterday the proposal to relocate the central administration to Jonggol had been presented to the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

Herman Haeruman, a Bappenas official, said although the proposal had been submitted to his office, it was yet to be evaluated.

"Studies and evaluation will be made only after the developers and the West Java provincial government present a more detailed proposal regarding the plan," the daily quoted Herman as saying. (04)