Tanjung Kait embankment completed

TANGERANG: The Tangerang municipality has completed the construction of Tanjung Kait embankment in the coastal district of Mauk, some 20 kilometers north of Tangerang.

The Rp 2.1 billion dike is designed to stop erosion caused by waves.

Samin, a construction supervisor, said that the one-kilometer long dike had been built with millions of river stones transported by barges from Bojo Negoro, Merak, Banten.

He added that the dike had been designed in a pyramid formation with 8 meter-wide foundations on the sea bed and rising 8 meters in height, but protruding only two meters above the surface of the water.

M. Ali, another construction supervisor, said the embankment had created a huge seapond, which would become a useful site for coastal shrimp ponds.

He said that he, along with other local figures, would soon propose two development concepts to the Tangerang regency administration, namely, developing the cape for coastal shrimp ponds and converting the site into a tourist attraction.

Tanjung Kait is one of the parts of the regency seriously affected by erosion.

Tamba, an official at the Tangerang administration information office in Tigaraksa, suspected the erosion was caused by sand mining activities in the Seribu Islands, some four miles off the northern coast. --JP