Illegally built villas threaten the environment say specialists

Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The government's policy not to demolish villas, including those built illegally without building permits, in the mountain resort of Puncak, West Java, is bad news for the environment, say green experts.

"The government should not withdraw its commitment to protect the environment. If those villas were built illegally on state land, they should be demolished whatever the consequences," said Mas Ahmad Santoso, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) on Saturday.

The area in Bogor, Puncak and Cianjur has been designated as a water catchment area to protect the low-land Jakarta from floods as several rivers in Jakarta come from there.

Earlier, Minister of National Development and Planning Kwik Kian Gie said that it was not necessary to demolish the villas. He argued that it would be costly and difficult to tear down the established buildings, adding that they were considered a mistake of the past government.

Puncak lies in Bogor regency. In two Bogor subdistricts, Cisarua and Megamendung, there are 1,715 villas, 840 of which were built illegally on state-owned land.

While in two of Cianjur's subdistricts, Pacet and Sukaresmi, there are 1,107 villas, of which around 40 percent were illegally built.

Development of villas built illegally is not just a mistake of the past government as it still goes on today.

Wahyudi Wisaksono, an environmental expert from the Jakarta- based Trisakti University, said legalizing such activities could not be accepted whatever the reason, as it would set a bad precedence for environmental campaigns.

"In the New Order era (under former president Soeharto), the government changed white into black and black into white. But in this reform era, it should not be allowed to happen again," Wahyudi told The Jakarta Post here on Saturday.

He, however, admitted that, based on regional autonomy, the central government could not act autocratically in trying to improve the situation in Puncak, as the authority is now in the hands of the administrations of Bogor and Cianjur regency.

Wahyudi said integrated efforts involving all parties -- the central government, the West Java, Jakarta, Bogor and Cianjur administrations -- are needed to resolve problems in those areas, which are all part of the water catchment area for Ciliwung river.

Experts believe that the growing number of villas and other buildings in the mountain resort contribute to flooding in the capital.

Such development increases land erosion, which leads to high levels of sedimentation in the upper areas of rivers that flow into Ciliwung River. Those rivers are Cisukabirus, Cibogo, Cisarua, Cilember, Ciluar, Sisesek and Cibuluh.

Data from the office of the state minister for environmental affairs, reveals that erosion in these areas rivers reaches 400 tons of earth per hectare per year. The maximum safe limit for a river is 39 tons per hectare per year.

According to Mas Ahmad, in trying to resolve the capital's flood problems, the government cannot just concentrate on developing flood control facilities in Jakarta, such as the plan to develop the Eastern Flood Canal. He said that efforts must be integrated with the improvement of environmental conditions upstream, like Puncak.