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)