JP/8/nabiel

JP/8/nabiel

Nabiel denies
approving
reclamation
project

Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim denied on
Tuesday Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's statement that the minister
had changed his mind and decided to approve the reclamation of
Jakarta's north coast.

"Well ... it's a misperception on the part of Pak Sutiyoso...
I have never agreed with the reclamation project," Nabiel told
journalists in his office.

He was responding to Sutiyoso's claim on Monday that Nabiel
had endorsed the much-criticized plan during their meeting on the
same day.

The governor said Nabiel had demanded at the Monday meeting
that the project be integrated with the city administration's
plan to address the unresolved flood problem.

However, the minister said on Tuesday that if Sutiyoso wanted
to press ahead with the reclamation of 2,700 hectares of coastal
land, he should first redesign the plan and submit a new
environmental impact analysis (Amdal).

"For example, the size and location of the reclamation project
must be changed and then they (the city administration) should
carry out a new Amdal study," Nabiel said.

He explained that an integrated policy involving the Bogor and
Jakarta administrations to resolve the annual flooding in the
capital should be developed so as to allow the new reclamation
project to go ahead.

"Without comprehensive measures to control the floods, any
coastal reclamation project in North Jakarta will only further
worsen the problem," he said.

Even if measures to tackle the floods in Jakarta were already
drawn up, Nabiel still doubted that the use of 330 million cubic
meters of sand for the reclamation project, which will cover some
32 kilometers of the north coast, would not damage the
environment in the areas where the sand would be excavated.

In this case, it would be useless if changes to the
reclamation project were made only on the basis of the Amdal,
Nabiel added.

"If the design of a new reclamation project is similar to the
current plan, any changes in the Amdal will be meaningless. We
will still reject it for the same reasons," the minister
asserted.

Nabiel issued Ministerial Decree No. 14/2003 on Feb. 19
rejecting the 2,700-hectare reclamation project, and he said on
Tuesday that the decision was final.

According to the decree, the project would raise the sea level
by about 12 centimeters, and would damage the marine ecosystem as
millions of cubic meters of sand would be needed for the project.

The plan would also increase pollution in the Kepulauan Seribu
regency due to activities during the reclamation process and the
utilization of the reclaimed land.

In addition, the project would spark social conflict as
thousands of fishermen living in Kamal Muara, Muara Angke, Muara
Baru and Kampung Luar Batang would lose their livelihoods.

Nabiel has also urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri to
issue a decree revoking Presidential Decree No. 52/1995 issued by
former president Soeharto, which provided a legal basis for the
city administration to press ahead with the project.

Nabiel went on to say that instead of proceeding with the
reclamation, his ministry has proposed an alternative to the city
administration to ease rising population pressures in the city.

"The city administration can carry out revitalization of the
coast, but not reclamation," he said.

He added that Jakarta could cooperate with the Banten
administration to build new business centers and apartments in
the neighboring province to anticipate the increasing population
of the capital.