Reclamation project undeterred

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.