Mega slams regions over master plans
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
President Megawati Soekarnoputri blasted provincial and regency/municipality administrations on Thursday for violating their land use master plans for the sake of allowing private sector constructing projects to go ahead.
"I have often addressed this problem. No governor, no regent, and no mayor has the right to alter the local land use master plan or blueprint that was drawn up 20 or 30 years ago," Megawati said in a speech to commemorate the 18th anniversary of World Habitat Day in Denpasar, Bali, on Thursday.
Megawati criticized local administrations for their inconsistency in implementing their respective land use master plans, pointing out that policies usually changed with changes in leadership.
"They always do what they like. If it does not suit their purposes, they simply change it. I would respectfully ask all governors and local administration chief executives to develop their jurisdictions in accordance with the existing master plans," she remarked.
Megawati failed to name names, but the conversion of former green spaces in Jakarta into housing complexes and shopping centers has aggravated the flooding problem in Jakarta and its surrounding areas.
She also criticized recent evictions of squatters from state and private land across the country, saying that regional administrations should address the problem before the number of squatters increased.
A land use master plan, the President said, listed all vacant sites in a regency or city. Therefore, local administrations should be able to anticipate illegal squatter developments on vacant land.
"Do not wait until a vacant plot is crammed with illegal houses and then start evicting people. The government will surely be blamed," Megawati said.
The President did not mention any provinces, but Jakarta has recently seen widely publicized evictions of illegal settlers from both state and private land.
The belated responses of local administrations, Megawati said, was due to the fact that many officials took bribes from the squatters.
State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim had earlier voiced his concern over moves by local administrations to vary land use master plans so as to rezone conservation areas as commercial areas.
Recently, the Bandung administration announced plans to develop the conservation area near the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, West Java, into a commercial area by allowing a private sector firm to develop a tourism resort there.
In her speech, Megawati warned that the migration rate from rural to urban areas was predicted to increase by 44.3 percent in 2025 from 34.0 percent in 2000.
Megawati said that the issue must be addressed properly as it would require detailed planning to meet the demand for housing, clean water and sanitation in urban areas.
During the event, Megawati launched a national movement for the construction of one million houses a year to reduce poverty and slum areas as well as provide clean water supplies and sanitation to 1,500 villages a year.