Jakarta – Advocates have warned the Jakarta administration's plan to establish 13 new shopping centers in Jakarta will damage its environment.

"The new malls will decrease the availability of land for water catchment," said Firdaus Hidayat, an officer for sustainable development at OneWorld Indonesia, on Thursday.

OneWorld and Kaukus Lingkungan Hidup Jakarta, also an environmental non-government organization, said there were already too many malls for the city's residents.

Firdaus said by approving the plan, the administration was putting the city at risk of more flooding. He also highlighted the importance of resident involvement in revitalizing the city.

Firdaus said the shrinking water catchment area has caused a significant increase in the volume of runoff water, which could potentially flood the city.

Out of the 2,000 cubic meters of rainwater Jakarta receives annually, only 26.6 percent can be absorbed by land, while the other 73.4 percent is runoff water.

Urban planner Darrundono said Jakarta needed a sustainable scheme in planning the city.

"When building a mall we should consider social, environmental and economic aspects, but at the moment we are only focusing on the economic aspects," he said.

"We need to consider our investment in nature, like many other investments, will bring returns of a better environment and happy citizens," he said.

He also said current development was not environmentally friendly. "This year Jakarta has experienced a 3-centimeter land subsidence. This is really dangerous for our buildings, which weren't designed to absorb water well," he said.

Darrundono, agreeing with Firdaus, said a weakness in Jakarta's city planning was the lack of resident involvement. (lva)