Dewanti A. Wardhani, The Jakarta Post 29 Sep 15;
The Jakarta administration has finished drafting a bylaw to regulate the controversial 17 man-made islets planned to be built off the city’s north coast.
The bylaw draft on the Jakarta north coast strategic area spatial planning specifically regulates spatial planning on each of the islets. Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati said that in drafting the bylaw the city administration had cooperated with experts from the University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), as well as hydrology and water management expert Sawarendro and his team.
“The city administration began drafting this bylaw in 2012. We are being extra careful with this because it is very important,” Tuty told The Jakarta Post recently.
In a document obtained by the Post, the city administration claims that land shortage and environmental quality degradation is the main reason for the land reclamation, and that the city aims to be an “international-standard sustainable waterfront city”.
“Around 70 percent of Jakarta’s 662 square kilometers is already in use. The solution to this is to add more land. Through land reclamation, we will get 5,100 hectares of new land, or about 90 percent of our existing land,” Tuty said.
An important point in the new bylaw draft is the classification of the islands. According to the document, the islands would be divided into three areas; the East Zone, consisting of islets A through H, will function as housing; the Central Zone, islets I through M, will be a commercial area and the West Zone, with islets N through Q will be for logistics and sea and air ports.
Further, under the plan each island must have open green space amounting to at least 30 percent of that island’s area, and 5 percent open blue space, such as reservoirs. At least 15 percent of an island’s area is designated for infrastructure and utilities, such as roads. In total, the man-made islets will accommodate 750,000 to 1.4 million people.
Tuty said that developers of islets A through H must also build rusunawa (low-cost rental apartments) on the islands for workers. She pointed out that such a clause would be included in the bylaw, but refused to reveal the amount of rusunawa units per island as the figure was still subject to change.
“We will discuss the draft with the City Council to have the bylaw approved. Hopefully we can get it approved by the end of the year,” she said.
Councilor Selamat Nurdin of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said that the city council would refuse to discuss the bylaw draft before all issues regarding land reclamation, from environmental to legal issues, were cleared. The City Council recently established a special committee to investigate the land reclamation project and would begin questioning relevant city and company officials and experts in October.
“The City Council has received many negative reports regarding land reclamation, and we want to clear up these reports before discussions,” Selamat told the Post.
For example, he said, the councilors had received reports of illegal practices in the development of the man-made islets. Despite the bylaw not being approved yet, two firms have started construction, namely Agung Sedayu Group subsidiary PT Kapuk Naga Indah and Agung Podomoro Land subsidiary PT Muara Wisesa Samudera. Kapuk is in charge of developing islets A through E while Muara Wisesa Samudera is developing islet G.
Both developers have started marketing properties at Golf City on islet D and Pluit City on islet G.
“We have received reports that a certain company may have been stealing sand from Thousand Islands to develop their own [islands]. That is illegal. Therefore, we will not only question city officials and experts in our investigations but also company officials involved in the project,” he said.
