Reclamation project undeterred
M. Taufiqurrahman and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the central government's demand for a new feasibility study and design of the controversial reclamation project on Jakarta's north coast, Governor Sutiyoso said his administration was merely complying with a court ruling to press ahead with the project.
"We will continue with the project as the court ruling has ordered us to do so. (The ruling)'s crystal clear," he announced to the public at City Hall on Friday.
He added that his office would not ignore some points in the recommendation made by the Office of the State Minister of the Environment on the project. The ministry lost in a legal dispute with private companies involved in the project.
"If any negative impacts are actually found, we will stop the project," Sutiyoso said.
The Jakarta State Administrative Court ruled in favor of the Jakarta Waterfront Development Board (BP Pantura) in its dispute against the state minister's office for issuing a decree to reject the plan to reclaim 2,700 hectares of the coast.
The project is for the construction of luxury housing, an industrial park and a recreation area. The project is expected to be completed in 30 years.
State Minister of the Environment, Nabiel Makarim had pledged to appeal the ruling which orders his office to revoke the environmental impact analysis (Amdal) on the project as it was made beyond his authority.
Nabiel has long been campaigning on the termination of the reclamation project unless BP Pantura and its partner companies could come up with an eco-friendly blueprint.
It was the administration's ignorant stance on the potential environmental damage caused by the project that worried the Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno, who on Thursday asked Jakarta to reconsider the project.
"It took 20 years to complete the reclamation project for Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali and it damaged as far as 40 kilometers of shoreline there."
On Friday, deputy director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES) Erfan Maryono said the ruling would hurt the ecological balance, not only in Jakarta, but also Bekasi in the east and Tangerang in the west.
"The ongoing reclamation project alone has already caused environmental damage in the area due to poor planning...I don't even want to imagine what will happen if the massive reclamation project goes ahead," he told The Jakarta Post.
Executive director of the Indonesian Environmental Forum Jakarta Chapter (Walhi Jakarta) Selamet Daroyni shared Erfan's view. "Jakarta has been rife with environmental disasters and the project will just worsen it," he said.
Currently, six private companies under BP Pantura are working on a six-hectare area of the coast, the first stage of the whole project.
Selamat surmised that the project was driven by the companies' motivation to make a profit, but without considering the environmental impact.
Nabiel Makarim's decree No. 14/2003 states:
1. The reclamation project would cause an increase in the sea level of up to 12 centimeters in some areas.
2. Thousands of fishermen in Kamal Muara, Muara Angke, Muara Baru, Kampung Luar Batang would lose their jobs.
3. The project would damage the ecosystem as some 330 million cubic meters of sand would be poured over the coastal area to reclaim the sea.
4. The project would worsen pollution around Kepulauan Seribu regency due to the reclamation process and during the utilization of the reclaimed land.