Reclamation project may affect islands: Expert
Reclamation project may affect islands: Expert
JAKARTA (JP): Reclamation work currently underway in North
Jakarta could threaten the existence of islets in the Thousand
Islands in Jakarta Bay, an environmental official warned
yesterday.
L.P. Coutrier, the deputy chairman of the Environmental Impact
Management Agency (Bapedal), said many reclamation projects were
taking sand quarried from islets in the bay.
This would destroy the islands, he told a seminar on shore
reclamation and its environmental impact.
"Islands cannot be made. Once destroyed, they're finished and
you never get them back," Coutrier said.
He cited the disappearance of Gusung Laga, Gusung Kapas and
Gusung Karang because of illegal sand quarrying as examples.
While not opposed to reclamation, Coutrier said the islets
were crucial barriers protecting Jakarta from tidal waves.
"If we lost the Thousand Islands, the city would lose its
protector. The waterfront city cannot hold back tidal waves," he
said.
The Jakarta administration has parceled out the 2,700 hectares
in the Jakarta Bay designated for reclamation to seven private
contractors. A couple of the contractors have completed the
reclamation and begun construction.
All the contractors must file an environmental impact analysis
study to the authorities.
Coutrier said that all the projects would have to abide by the
recommendations of a regional environmental impact study
currently being conducted by Bapedal Jakarta for the entire
reclamation area.
He did not say when the regional study would be completed.
The development of coastal areas being reclaimed could not be
separated from the development of the city as a whole, he said.
The seminar was organized by Jakarta's Tarumanegara University
in cooperation with the Illinois Institute of Technology in the
United States and the Petra Christian University in Surabaya.
Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri, a professor of urban studies at
Tarumanegara University, said developers undertaking reclamation
projects must preserve the ecological balance of the area.
"The preservation of mangrove forests and the creation of a
green belt area must come first," he said.
The administration should retain control over the reclaimed
areas even though they are managed by private developers, he
said.
He referred to cases in Bali where hotels staked their claims
over the beaches and kept the local people out.
The reclamation projects in Jakarta should also build houses
and schools for families who are expecting to work in the area,
he said, noting that some of the ongoing projects concentrated
solely on office buildings and housing for the high income
bracket. (07)