Mega slams regions over master plans
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.