Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – The House of Representatives will pass the spatial plan bill this Tuesday, despite criticisms that the bill lacks ecological sustainability provisions.

"There are no more objections from factions. We will pass the law at the plenary session on March 27," House spatial planning law committee deputy chairman Syarfi Hutauruk said last week.

The committee completed the final draft of the revision of the 1992 Spatial Planning Law last week, after a series of public hearings.

The new bill is said to present a tougher set of planning regulations, stipulating detailed punishments for land use violations, the result of a series of man-made disasters that have recently affected the country, including landslides and flooding.

Gadjah Mada University urban planning expert Eko Budihardjo had previously said that stricter laws were needed to ensure that master plans were followed and implemented.

The Public Works Ministry recently revealed that 54 percent of land-use violations were committed by the private sector and accepted by local administrations for tax or personal enrichment reasons.

The new law will require agencies or government institutions that allow land use violations to pay a penalty for any resulting economic effects. "There will also be incentives and deterrents (put in place) to assure that administrations comply with their development master plans," Syarfi said.

He said that the situation in West Java's Puncak, where the local administration allows houses to be built in a designated water catchment area, was an example of the sort of problem the new law would prevent.

"If the administration is willing to return Puncak to its (proper) function, it will receive incentives in the form of a special budget from Jakarta, for example," he said.

Deterrents would include increased land and building taxes for buildings occupying designated green space areas. The bill also includes a regulation on the minimum allocation of open green space and public areas.

Despite these provisions, however, environmentalist groups have criticized the bill for giving control and supervision of master plans to the Public Works Ministry, saying the institution lacks environmental awareness.

The new article on open green space was prompted by the continual reduction of open green areas in cities, Public Works Ministry director general for spatial planning Hermanto Dardak said.

"All cities, including Jakarta whose open green space now reaches only 9 percent, must comply with the regulation in three years' time," Syarfi said.

Environmental group Walhi says that forcing such a regulation on Jakarta will only result in the exploitation of the poor.

"If Jakarta is forced to meet such target, it will be the kampong people who once again have to make way for development," environmental group Walhi Jakarta research and public policy analysis division head M. Hasbi Azis said.

Key points of the spatial planning bill

1. Cities are required to allocate a minimum of 30 percent of their area for open green space and a minimum of 20 percent for public space.

2. Land use violations that cause material losses or fatalities will result in a maximum fine of Rp 1 billion and eight years in prison.

3. Land use violation punishments apply to both the land permit holder (including developers and households) and any government officials involved in granting the permit.

4. Incentives and deterrents to encourage appropriate land use.

5. Greater public access to city and regency master plans and options for legal redress should land use violations result in public losses.

[Source: Draft of Spatial Planning Law, Ministry of Public Works.]