Mega wants new plan drawn up for reclamation project

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri ordered Governor Sutiyoso on Thursday to commission a new plan and a new environmental impact analysis for a controversial reclamation and development plan slated for the city's north coast.

During a meeting with State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim, Megawati said the original plan should be reviewed due to its likely adverse effects on the environment.

"The President instructed the city administration to involve my office in preparing the new plan right from the very beginning," he told the press.

Nabiel said the President's instruction was a good sign that the ongoing dispute between his office and Sutiyoso might soon be resolved.

The reclamation project -- to be carried out by the city administration's Jakarta Waterfront Development Board (BP Pantura) -- had given rise to a legal dispute between the Office of the State Minister and the board.

Sutiyoso had insisted on pushing ahead with the project, arguing that it represented the implementation of Presidential Decree No.52/1995. Last year, Nabiel urged Megawati to revoke the decree, saying that the project would only cause further serious environmental damage to the already badly polluted coastline.

However, the Jakarta Administrative Court ruled in favor of the board early in February.

The Office of the State Minister is awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court on its appeal.

It is only now, after the case has been going on for a year, that Megawati appears to have taken an interest.

Some insiders at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which is chaired by Megawati, suggested that her belated intervention might be related to the trouncing her party received in Jakarta during the April 5 legislative elections. They pointed to Sutiyoso's unpopular policies, such as the widespread eviction of destitute squatters, as the root cause of the party's poor showing in the capital.

The Rp 20 trillion (US$2.13 billion) project involves the reclamation of some 2,700 hectares of land on the north coast. The reclaimed land is to be used for the construction of luxury houses, hotels, condominiums, an industrial zone, a port, business centers, shopping malls, offices and recreation places. The project is expected to take 30 years to complete, if it finally gets the go-ahead.