Jakarta – Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has told Jakarta governor-elect Anies Baswedan and deputy governor-elect Sandiaga Uno that the Jakarta Bay reclamation project should be continued as it is one of the central government's long-awaited projects that date back to the Soeharto era.

During the campaign period for Jakarta gubernatorial election earlier this year, Anies and Sandiaga repeatedly vowed to stop the project, saying it was environmentally unfriendly and would disrupt the livelihoods of fisherfolk.

Luhut said research on and development of the artificial islets had been conducted since the former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration and was being continued under the leadership of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

"Whoever the leader is, he should respect the [project] review issued by a credible institution. You can't change [the ongoing project] as you wish just because you're the new official," Luhut said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

"As a country, we could be scorned by other people [if we don't continue the reclamation], as they will think we're not consistent with the study conducted by the previous administration," he added.

Anies and Sandiaga should study the research on the project before deciding to stop it, Luhut said. He went on to say that the reclamation project would benefit the city, such as by mitigating land subsidence.

Earlier, Sandiaga said that after his inauguration in October, he and Anies would review the reclaimed islets, including from an environmental perspective. (cal/wit)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/07/12/luhut-urges-aniesto-continue-reclamation.html