Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has said he will stick to his guns and stop reclamation projects despite issuing on June 4 Gubernatorial Regulation No. 58/2018 on the establishment of a coordination body to manage the reclamation project in North Jakarta's coastal area.
The regulation has been criticized for contradicting Anies' promise to stop the multimillion dollar project.
The agency, which was formed in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 52/1995 on the reclamation of North Jakarta's coastal area, is in charge of coordinating, planning, implementing and monitoring the project.
Despite the content of the regulation, Anies said he would not continue the project. "Our commitment is clear, we will stop [the] reclamation [project]," Anies said on Thursday.
People who criticized him for attempting to continue the project had criticized their own imagination, Anies said.
The Save Jakarta Bay Coalition slammed Anies for forming the agency. The coalition said the regulation violated the law given that Presidential Decree No. 52/1995 was made redundant after the issuance of Presidential Regulation No. 54/2008 on the spatial planning of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, Puncak and Cianjur.
Even though the gubernatorial regulation has provisions on environmental preservation, including the preservation of mangrove forests, the reclamation project will damage the coastal ecosystem and affect the livelihood of fisherfolk, the coalition said.