Governor urged to take over Bira Island case
Governor urged to take over Bira Island case
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja should take over the case of Bira Island following President Soeharto's call to put a halt to the devastation of the island, said H. Lukman F. Mokoginta, the chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party.
"The President has expressed his deep concern with the environmental destruction taking place due to the construction of a golf course on the island. The governor should take over the case instead of expecting the Seribu Island Development Supervision Control Team to solve it," Lukman said.
Last week the President underlined the importance of rejuvenating the environment and called for stern action against the developer, PT Pulau Seribu Paradise, if it refused to abide by existing regulations.
President Soeharto made the remarks after State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja detailed the poor condition of Bira Island, mostly the result of unabated tree felling.
"An environment impact analysis (Amdal) of Bira Island has been rejected for several times by the city administration's commission on environmental impacts. It is not due to the slowness of the consulting firm that had been hired by the golf course developers, but because the data which should be analyzed does not meet the qualifications," Lukman said.
The Amdal, the Indonesian acronym by which the environmental analysis is known, is a mandatory assessment that must be presented by developers to ensure that any development will not produce unwanted effects on the surrounding environment.
Last February, the commission on environmental impacts turned down the developer's Bira Island analysis for the third time.
"The city administration will try to find the best solution to this problem instead of stopping the construction of the golf course," said Ery Chajaridipura, head of the City Development Planning Agency and also chairman of Amdal commission.
"If the problem is about the water catchment, we can find a solution by using high technology. For example, we can build water catchment wells in those areas," he said.
According to the existing regulation, the developer of the island must set aside 40 percent of the land for greeneries which will be managed by the city administration.
To get around the regulation, the developer, with the approval of the city administration, provided a plot of land for the green area on nearby Panjang Island instead of on Bira Island.
"The city administration should not have allowed the developer to provide a plot of land on another island," Lukman said.
The environment impact analysis of the island is still being processed by the City Environment Office.
Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, head of the City Environment Office, said, "We expect to announce the result of the Amdal study this month. From the Amdal results we will determine the extent of the destruction."
"At the moment there is an independent consulting firm assigned to check the condition of the water around the island," he said, adding that it would be impossible to return the environment to its previous, less adulterated state.
Last week Minister Sarwono instructed PT Seribu Island Paradise to audit the island's environment.
He also asked the developer to revive the plants there that serve as water catchment and to improve the bio-diversity conditions of the island. (31/yns)