New town to eat into protected mangrove forest

Wahyuana, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi

The Bekasi regency plans to build an exclusive new industrial town that will encroach upon about 10,000 hectares of the protected mangrove forest in Muara Gembong coast.

The town, to be called City of Jakarta Bay, would sit on around 30,000 hectares of land in the Muara Gembong, Cabang Bungin, Tambelang and Babelan districts, the area adjacent to Jakarta Bay.

A sixth of the area would be developed into an industrial estate, while the regency plans to build a residential area, a port and a container terminal, recreation park and reserve a small part of the protected forest for conservation.

"A team of experts is still carrying out a feasibility study," Bekasi regent Saleh Manaf told The Jakarta Post.

However, he said, his office was facing problems developing the mangrove forest, which was under the management of the Ministry of Forestry.

"We're waiting for the ministry to reply to our request to convert the forest into an industrial area," the regent said.

A community leader from Muara Gembong, Ahmad Syahid Qurthubi, said not all of the residents supported the project.

"We hope the administration explains the project to residents long before it begins. There will be at least 50,000 people who will be affected by the project and this surely would bring many problems.

"Moreover, what the people here need is wider access to education to enhance the quality of human resources and not a high-cost physical development," he told the Post.

Environment Watch director Benny Tunggul said the mangrove forest of Muara Gembong was known worldwide as the home to populations of langur, macaque and the milky stork.