Jakarta – The city administration must make greater efforts to create green spaces in the capital, the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has said.
The organization estimates the percentage of green areas in the city is only 6.2 percent, lower than the city park agency's latest official estimate of 9.6 percent.
Selamet Daryoni, director of the organization, said recently that between 1965 and 1985, green areas constituted 36 percent of the city's area.
According to a 1999 bylaw on spatial planning for 2000 to 2010, the city has set a target for green areas to cover at least 13.96 percent of the city by 2010 – a target it is a long way from meeting.
"Instead of finding a way to meet the 13.96 percent target, the city has become more aggressive in converting green areas into commercial zones, without properly looking into the environmental impact analysis (Amdal)," he said.
Selamet said the conversion of green areas, such as Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, Pulo Mas and Cibubur in East Jakarta, Tegal Alur in West Jakarta, and Cilandak and Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta, into commercial zones in the past 10 years was the main factor behind the decrease in the city's green spaces.
"The decrease in green areas in the city is parallel to the deepening impacts of natural disasters such as floods and pollution," he said.
Selamet said that according to Public Works Agency data, the 2007 floods in Jakarta had cost up to Rp 6.5 trillion.
"The percentage of green areas may decrease again in the future if the government does not implement consistent and sustainable pro-environment policies," he said, adding that the public should have access to the policy-making process.
Wiriyatmoko, head of the city's spatial planning agency, said they were still short of the target but that the city was fully committed to meeting the target.
"To meet the target the city administration has carried out a series of efforts such as acquiring land for green areas and constructing new parks," he said.
He said funding was the main obstacle to achieving the target.
"To make space for 1 percent of land to be used as a green area, the city administration needs around 770 hectares of land, which would cost around Rp 7 trillion (US$600 million)," he said.
He said his agency still needed to find another 4 percent of the city's land, which means the agency would need around Rp 28 trillion to meet the target.
Wiriyatmoko said to deal with the shortfall in funds, land acquisition for green areas had to be done in phases, and called for communities to get involved.
"One way to make up for the lack of green areas is by asking for the public to get involved by making green areas in their houses," he said.
The agency has said a building may not cover more than 60 percent of its land, with the rest to be used for green space.
Jakarta covers around 65,000 hectares, with 6,240 hectares of it being used as green areas. The administration target is for 9,100 hectares of green areas in the city by 2010. (fmb)