Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Governor Sutiyoso's plan to push ahead with massive land reclamation project along 32 kilometers of the city's northern coastline will cause an ecological and economic disaster, the state environment ministry and green activists say.
The controversial reclamation would add about 2,700 hectares to the city in an upmarket waterfront project, where the administration would designate land to industrial parks, hotels, office buildings, and upscale accommodation for up to 1.19 million residents.
The State Ministry for the Environment and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said the reclamation would only cause more flooding and pollution in the city, destroy fisheries, mangrove areas and coral reefs and displace thousands of residents living in coastal communities.
Walhi has threatened to take the city to court if it goes ahead with the project in October.
"This is the third time we have voiced our opposition to the reclamation plan. Our research finds that the project will cause bigger ecological and economic losses than the economic value gained by the administration," Slamet Daryoni, the executive director of Walhi's Jakarta chapter told The Jakarta Post.
He said during the next 50 years, it was projected the project would generate Rp 572 trillion (US$57 billion) in extra income for the city, while Wahli estimated the total ecological and social damage it would cause over that period was worth Rp 3,499 trillion.
The likely costs of coping with the extra flooding and pollution and the resulting damage to communities and industry, Walhi said could amount to Rp 2,927 trillion.
Responding to Walhi, Governor Sutiyoso said that activists had assessed the project in a "one-sided" way. "We see it from a macro point of view. Jakarta's population is increasing, while we have no more land. Where else should we develop the city?" he said.
He said coastal reclamations were a common practice in coastal cities in the world. "Some 72 percent of coastal cities in the world undergo reclamations," he said.
He said if project was dangerous to the environment, the administration would not hesitate to stop it. "We would end the project (if it was environmentally harmful). However, the project so far has been thoroughly researched by experts," he said.
Sutiyoso has fought the environment ministry since it issued a 2003 ministerial decree rejecting the project. The decree was based on a recommendation of the Central Environmental Impact Analysis Commission, which assessed the environmental impact documents submitted by waterfront city management company PB Pantura.
The assessment found that the planned reclamation project would cause extra flooding in Jakarta, increase the sea level in other coastal areas by 12 centimeters, worsen pollution in the Thousand Islands regency, destroy the marine ecosystem and cause thousands of fishermen to lose their livelihoods. Companies involved in the reclamation project have appealed the case to the State Administrative Court in 2004 and won. Wahli and the ministry subsequently appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
Slamet said that the administration could not continue the reclamation as Supreme Court had yet to issue a verdict on the project.
To move the project on, the city later set up its own environmental group to report to the Jakarta Environmental Impact Agency (Bapedalda). The agency later issued the companies with an environmental assessment (Amdal) allowing them to go ahead with the project. "It is also not appropriate to use an Amdal issued by the city administration. It must be issued by the minister," Slamet said.
The project involves areas in three provinces; Cilincing in Bekasi, West Java and Penjaringan in Tangerang of Banten.
Mediana Johanna Uguy an ecologist with the Indonesian Christen University said the reclamation would destroy the ecological functions of the coastline, wiping out the remaining mangrove forests and coral reefs. "However, it can also add value to Jakarta by making it a waterfront city like have been developed in several countries," she said.
She said the city administration needed to deal seriously with the myriad of problems that unchecked and shoddily planned development was causing. "Jakarta always asks cities upstream to improve the environment while the administration continue to destroy its own land by building commercial areas," she said.
Neither did the waterfront development plan do anything to deal with the increasing numbers of poor people flocking to the city from poorer areas.
Sutiyoso's megapolitan concept joining Jakarta with Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek), was supposed to deal with this issue, she said.