'No need to delay reclamation'

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja hinted Wednesday that reclamation projects in North Jakarta need not be postponed until a currently underway environmental impact analysis was completed.

Legislator Muhammad Buang said recently that ongoing projects should be adjusted to meet the recommendations of the regional environmental impact study, or postponed if they were incompatible with it.

Housing and office site projects are being developed by private firms. The city is also preparing to reclaim 2,700 hectares.

Legislators said they feared environmental damage could occur if projects began before the regional environmental impact study was completed.

Surjadi said the city's project could be done at the same time as the ongoing study.

"The project has been carefully planned by experts, including the environmental impact assessment. Even though all the details have not been finalized, we can make (preparations) simultaneously."

The work was not easy and took time, he said.

"If we have to wait until the environmental impact analysis is completed before we start the project, it could take a very long time," he said.

Buang, deputy of chairman of Commission X for environment, said reclamation projects had to be postponed to avoid giving the impression that when completed the regional study would only justify ongoing projects.

The head of the City's Development Planning Board, Budihardjo Sukmadi, said the currently underway projects had been given permits on the backs of their respective environmental impact studies.

In 1995 President Soeharto issued an instruction on reclamation in North Jakarta. It said a regional environmental impact study was needed. (anr/ste)