JAKARTA RECLAMATION AFFECTS THOUSANDS OF FISHERMEN

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 9 (Antara) - Fishermen in Muara Angke in North Jakarta are the most affected by the ambitious giant sea wall and reclamation project in North Jakarta coastal area around the Jakarta Bay.          The Indonesian Traditional Fishermen Association (KNTI) said reclamation of 17 islands in the Jakarta Bay has cut the income of local fishermen by about 40 to 50 percent.          "Obviously, it has had a big impact on the economy of traditional fishermen as their income has come down by 40 to 50 percent," KNTI chief patron Chalid Muhammad said during a public discussion in Jakarta on Saturday (April 9).           In the discussion, Chalid said thousands of fishermen have been alienated and now find that they have restricted access to fishing since the Jakarta Bay in North Jakarta has been privatized, thanks to the reclamation of man-made islands.           "Fishermen's catch has dropped drastically and the quality of the Jakarta sea water has deteriorated. The reclamation has made the waters turbid, so fishermen have to sail far away for fishing," he said.

JAKARTA COASTAL RECLAMATION STILL FACES LEGAL PROBLEM

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 9 (Antara) - After three years of construction, the North Jakarta coastal reclamation, where 17 islands and a waterfront city will be reclaimed and built, still faces legal constraints.           The multi-trillion rupiah project which will increase the capital city's area by 2,700 hectares still needs the passage of Jakarta draft bylaws.          Therefore, a political party leader has called for the stoppage of the reclamation project until all of its legal and environmental aspects are settled.          "The reclamation process could be continued if its environmental impact analysis and legal aspects are settled," Mardani Ali Sera, deputy secretary general of the Executive Board of the Prosperous Justice Party, noted in a written statement Wednesday (April 6).          The issue of the legal aspect of the ambitious project once again came to the surface in recent days after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) disclosed an alleged corruption scandal linked to the deliberations of a Jakarta bylaw that governs the project.

GOVERNMENT URGED TO HALT JAKARTA COASTAL RECLAMATION PROJECT

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 7 (Antara) - A political party leader and fishermen have called on the Jakarta authorities to halt the North Jakarta coastal reclamation project until all legal and environmental aspects of the project are settled.          "The reclamation process could be continued if its environmental impact analysis and legal aspects have been settled," Mardani Ali Sera, deputy secretary general of the Executive Board of the Prosperous Justice Party, noted in a written statement on Wednesday (April 6).          The Jakarta reclamation project, in which at least 17 reclaimed islands and a waterfront city will be built, was initiated in the era of the New Order government over two decades ago. However, environmentalists are opposed to the plan, claiming that it would destroy the ecosystem and worsen the annual flooding.         According to Mardani, the North Jakarta Bay reclamation project needs to be halted and re-discussed from the perspective of ensuring the prosperity of Jakarta's residents.         He stated that the process of reclamation could be continued after its environmental impact analysis and legal aspects had been addressed.

JAKARTA TO CONTINUE COAST RECLAMATION PLAN AMID PROTESTS

By Andi Abdussalam

           Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - The Jakarta administration will proceed with its planned coastal reclamation project which is expected to increase Jakarta's land areas by 2,700 hectares in the north but is being opposed by environmentalists who claim that the project will destroy the ecosystem and worsen annual flooding.

         "The land reclamation plan is to be carried out to respond to the rapid growth of Jakarta's population which has now reached  nine million," Peni Susanti, head  of the Jakarta Environment Management Agency (BPLHD),  said Wednesday.

         However, environmental activists called on the Jakarta government to stop the reclamation to help protect the environment. After all, the Supreme Court (MA) has ruled in favor of an appeal by the office of the environment minister over a lower court decision which allowed the continuation of the project.

         "The Jakarta government should respect the MA decision and execute the verdict together with the office of the minister of environment," Norkholis Hidayat of the Jakarta Bay Salvaging Movement Coalition said.

          Peni Susanti however argued that land reclamation would not damage the environment if it was preceded by an evaluation based on  strategic environmental studies. The Jakarta city government's reclamation plan called for the creation of  small islands at locations determined through  hydrodynamic studies off  Jakarta's northern coast, and not the expansion of the coastal land.

         The material to be used to create the small islands, estimated to reach 330 million cubic meters, would be the mud derived from Jakarta river dredging projects.  "The basic construction material will come from river dredging works but we have not yet found a solution for the islands' top soil (upper layer)," Peni said.

         How to form the islands' top soil was a more difficult problem because it must contain a  high dose of nutrients to enable plants to grow on it. she said. "With a bad top soil, no plants can grow maximally, and that is what we are thinking about now," Peni said.

         Peni Susanti said land reclamation was a normal practice  to overcome spatial scarcity problems in other countries such as  China, Singapore and the Netherlands.

         "In China, Singapore, and the Netherlands, land reclamation was done because the population had reached a city's maximum capacity, and without converting productive areas into public housing sites,"  she said.

         On the reclaimed land, a waterfront city is expected to be developed, which includes an industrial center, business, transportation and office complex facilities.

         However, Jakarta has a difficult topographic area which is crisscrossed by 13 rivers that run down from mountainous areas to the sea. Thus, during the rainy season Jakarta is always hit by floods. Moreover, the reclamation project is viewed to disturb the ecosystem of the north Jakarta's waters.

         Therefore, environmentalists urged the regional government to stop reclaiming its northern coastal areas based on the Supreme Court (MA)'s recent appellate decision.

         According to Norkholis Hidayat, the Jakarta government should respect the MA decision and execute the verdict. He said that the Jakarta government seemed to be arrogant because regardless of the MA ruling, it continued to reclaim the northern coastal area, it even supported the efforts by six companies to ask for a review of the MA decision.

         "If the Jakarta regional government is a law-abiding one, it should have stopped the coastal area reclamation. But it continued to do it. This is proof that the Jakarta regional government is taking sides with the companies and economic activities rather than with the life of fishermen and the sustainability of coastal areas," Slamet Dayroni, chairman of the Indonesia Green Institute, said meanwhile.

         The MA ruling reinforced the environment ministerial decree No. 14/2003 which stipulated that based on the Environmental Impact Analysis (AMDAL), the reclamation and revitalization project of north Jakarta coastal areas was not environmentally feasible.

         With the issuance of the MA verdict, the Jakarta regional government should have stopped the reclamation project which was done by six companies, namely PT Pelabuhan II, PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, PT Jakarta Propertindo, PT Manggala Krida Yudha, Bakti Bangun Era Mulia and PT Taman Harapan Indah.

         In 2003, the six firms sued the environment minister for its decree which said the north Jakarta coastal area reclamation breached AMDAL regulation. The high court ruled in favor of the six companies, but at the MA, the environment minister won the appeal.

        The idea to reclaim the north Jakarta coastal areas surfaced during the New Order government. It was stipulated in Presidential Decree No.17/1994 on the northern coast as a reliable area. One year later, President Soeharto issued Decree No.52/1995 which stipulated that the reclamation would be done in North Jakarta.

         The realization of the reclamation project is contained in the Jakarta government bylaw No. 8/1995. However, the environment minister's decree no. 14/2003 said the reclamation could not be done until its environmental impact analysis (AMDAL) stated the project is feasible.

         Thus, in 2004, President Megawati Soekarnoputri asked Jakarta governor Sutiyoso to review the-Rp20 trillion-worth reclamation project which stretched 32 km along the Jakarta northern coast.

         Now that the regional government is to proceed with the project, environmental activists asked it to obey the MA verdict.  (T.A014/A/HAJM/14:20/...  ) June 17, 2010