Sadikin opposes reclamation plan

Former city governor Ali Sadikin joined the chorus of opposition to reclamation of a 2,500-hectare coastal area in North Jakarta, asking the city administration to stop the project, worth trillions of rupiah, due to its social and environmental impacts.

"I disagreed with the project. We would be committing suicide if we went ahead with it," Ali said at a hearing with City Council Commission E for social welfare affairs on Monday.

He revealed that the reclamation project had originally been proposed in 1977, the final year of his term, but he rejected it due to the damage it might have caused.

However, he claimed former president Soeharto issued a decree in 1995 allowing the project to be developed by his cronies.

Ali Sadikin, who become a memorable governor in 1966, suggested the project money could be used for schemes that would produce benefit to ordinary people.

"But I would be in agreement if the reclamation took place at the eastern portion of the coastal area, which implies the expansion of Tanjung Priok harbor; not the western part, which was intended," Ali said. --JP