Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Jakarta is heading toward "ecological suicide" if it doesn't stem overpopulation, an urban planning expert warned on Tuesday.
Nirwono Jogo, a lecturer on architecture at Trisakti University, said the capital's resources had been stretched thin due to the sheer size of its population.
"The city must act now. A population boom is in store for the city if no action is taken," he told the Jakarta Globe.
On Monday, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said the average population density of the capital had reached over 14,400 people per square kilometer.
Nirwono said the ideal population density for a city was 5,000 people per square kilometer. He said it was critical for the city to revise housing regulations and shift to "vertical living."
"With vertical buildings like apartments – both low- and high-rise – we can make integrated, environment-friendly neighborhoods," Nirwono said.
"The rest of the space [can be] used for water catchment areas and green spaces," he said, adding that it took Singapore 20 years to shift from horizontal dwellings to vertical.
Nirwono said city officials should work with the administrations of outlying areas of the metropolis to ease the burden of overcrowding. "Mostly, people from Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi only live there to sleep. But their activities are spent in Jakarta," he said.
According to the BPS's national census in May, Jakarta is home to almost 9.6 million residents, posting a growth of 16 percent from 8.35 million in 2000.
"This increase is due to urbanization, not childbirth, [which] in fact accounts for less than 4 percent of population growth," BPS chief Agus Suherman said.
The most densely populated area was Central Jakarta, with an average of 19,000 people per square kilometer.
Suherman said according to the agency's estimates, Jakarta's population could easily reach 11 million by 2020 in the absence of a population control program.
Achmad Harjadi, deputy governor for Spatial Planning and the Environment, said the Jakarta's Master Spatial Planning Bylaw had been submitted to the city council for approval.
"The new spatial plan emphasizes vertical dwellings close to public transportation and accessible to dwellers," he said.
Achmad said housing should ideally be built in suburban areas or in buffer zones like Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. He said this would boost the economy in surrounding areas.
High property prices in Jakarta, which drive customers to look for elsewhere, make the plan more attractive.
"People who work in Jakarta choose to buy houses in the outskirts [of the city] because land prices are just very expensive," said Arief Rajardjo, associate director at Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate consultancy firm.