Minister Nusron Reveals Widespread Illegal Sea Plotting in Indonesia, Most Prevalent in Batam
Jakarta, VIVA – The Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN), Nusron Wahid, has revealed that he has received numerous reports concerning coastal waters that have been parcelled off without following lawful procedures. This has occurred in several regions, with the largest number of cases taking place in Batam City.
According to him, the Ministry of ATR/BPN has received many complaints regarding the parcelling of coastal waters in a number of regions, and has therefore called on all parties to restore order.
“At present, many stretches of sea have been parcelled off, and even sold or handed over to third parties through cooperation agreements. Most of this is happening in Batam, but it also occurs in other regions,” said Nusron in Jakarta on Monday, 3 August 2026.
He said that the parcelling of coastal waters in Batam has breached existing regulations, given that of the eight procedures that must be followed, not a single one has been observed. Nusron explained that in the Batam cases flagged in the complaints, management rights (HPL) had already been issued, even though the process of obtaining such rights is a lengthy one.
According to him, HPL can only be granted once a number of requirements under various regulations have been met, and the utilisation of reclaimed areas must be carried out in stages.
These stages begin with the designation of the reclamation site, approval of the spatial use suitability for marine areas (PKKPRL), environmental approval, the issuance of a reclamation permit, the execution and supervision of reclamation works, verification of reclamation results, and finally the application for management rights (HPL). Only after HPL has been issued can land designation and the granting of land rights proceed.
However, according to Nusron, in practice a number of cases have been found where land allocation was issued directly without going through these stages.
“So now there are many instances where there is no reclamation plan designation, no PKKPRL, no environmental approval and so on, yet land has already been designated. This means the procedure has been violated and eight stages have been skipped,” he said.
Nusron stressed that ATR/BPN is asking the relevant authorities in Batam and other areas to restore order, given that the sea is a ‘common use’ public space, not one for private use.
“If coastal waters have been parcelled off without a PKKPRL permit or any other permit, and before any reclamation has taken place, that amounts to the seizure of ‘common use’ or public space for private purposes, and that is not permitted,” he added. (Ant)