Lack of sea defenses erodus Bengkulu coast

Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post, Muko Muko

Sea waves are steadily eroding the coastline of Bengkulu province, especially in Muko Muko regency, due to a lack of wave barriers along the west coast of Sumatra.

Erosion has damaged many sections of the west coast Trans- Sumatra Highway, which runs directly along the coastline facing the Indian Ocean.

"The waves are eating away about 6.5 meters of the shoreline each year," Sukardi, spokesman for plantation company PT Agromuko, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The high level of erosion has been exacerbated by the change in wave intensity along the sloping contoured coast. Previously, waved averaged about 1.5 meters during high tides, but now have risen to more than three meters high. The change was noticed after the tsunami last year, and has continued until now.

According to Sukardi, his office installed 12 marker pegs in 1998 to determine the rate of erosion along the coastline.

The pegs were erected in a parallel line at five-meter intervals from the inland towards the shore.

"Now, there are just three pegs left," said Sukardi, who is also an agriculture officer at the oil palm and rubber plantation company.

The last peg is only about five meters from the Trans-Sumatra Highway, which connects the regency with Bengkulu city and West Sumatra province.

Based on the current rate of erosion, the road would be overcome by the sea in three year's time, and in another three years the sea would encroach into the oil palm plantation.

The erosion in Ketahun district in North Bengkulu regency had already damaged parts of the highway, and road embankments built on five-meter-high cliffs had collapsed due to the continuous pounding of waves early this year.

The local administration has restored the road, but there are still many sections of the highway that are threatened by erosion.

Sukardi's company has been involved in a reforestation program since 2004, planting deep-rooted trees such as mahogany and pine varieties. Six-month-old tree saplings have been planted in three rows three meters apart.

The reforestation program was especially concentrated along the coast of Tanahretak district in North Muko Muko, along a three-kilometer stretch of particularly threatened coastline.

A resident of Airpungur beach in Tanahretak, Syamsul Bahri, said that the trees could enhance the area, including the Muko Muko nature preserve, which was engulfed in flames during the dry season a few years ago.

He added that local residents had proposed to the regental administration that wave barriers be built at the tourist destination, using rocks found along the beach.