Jakarta Bay Reclamation, Grace or Fiasco?

Any new idea, whether it is an innovation or new development, always raises pros and cons. Jakarta Bay Reclamation (JBR) Project is no exception. A lot of people – be they environment experts, lawyers, politicians and observers – all are looking on the projects whether they are executed conforming to the regulations or whether there are some frauds involved in them. Some are trying hard to be involved in the projects in the hope of at least getting a part of the huge funds spent in the projects and some are sincere on their criticism.

The project began under Presidential Decree No. 17 of 1994 stipulating that Jakarta North Coast Region was categorized as the mainstay of Jakarta urban development region. Presidential Decree No. 52/1995 followed suit stipulated to organize the Jakarta North Coast region development through the sea reclamation integrated with existing coastal plains.

In January 2012 the Governor Regional Regulation No 8/1995 on the Implementation of North Jakarta Reclamation Area was changed under the setting of the Spatial Plan to year 2030. In September of the same year, one month before the end of his term, four principal permits were issued under the Governor Regulation No 121/2012 by Fauzi Bowo on the reclamation of F, G, I and K islands. Those permits were extended by the then Acting Governor Basuki Tjahaya Purnama (Ahok) in June 2014.

From the end of 2014 to the end of 2015 Governor Ahok issued the reclamation execution permit of G, F, I and K. Today, a total of 17 man-made islands inside Jakarta Bay are in process to undergo their construction or under the process of getting the permit. Those islands were named alphabetically namely A being the westernmost island through Q island in the easternmost of Jakarta Bay.

On 27 April 2016, in a closed meeting discussing the Jakarta Bay reclamation, President Jokowi ensured that the whole Jakarta reclamation project should be continued. This reclamation project will be integrated with the National Capital Integrated Costal Development (NCICD).

He reminded that the land subsidence in Jakarta has been very worrying. It is estimated that if there is no action to cope with the problem, the entire North Jakarta will be submerged and below the sea level in 2030. In fact, as the capital city, Jakarta must have the resilience and resources to support a sustainable environment. Jokowi said that the construction of coastal Capital (NCICD) which has long been initiated would be a solution. Do not narrow the problem by focusing only to the Jakarta reclamation project alone.

Following the uproar over the issue of bribery and the arrest M.Sanusi, Chairman of the Jakarta City Council by KPK as well as the growing protest some communities, at the meeting of the Reclamation Joint Committee of inter-ministerial and DKI Government, Rizal Ramli, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Resources decided to stop the G island reclamation project on the grounds that the island was developed over the Pertamina gas pipeline and over the PLN underground cable lines.

But according to Tutty Kusumawati, Head of Bappeda DKI Jakarta, the cancellation of the G island reclamation was unilaterally decided by the Minister Rizal Ramli. Tutty said that the Joint Committee never concluded that there were gross violations on the G island development and no cancellation recommendations towards the reclamation. However, Rizal Ramli had another opinion which was beyond the Committee recommendations. According to her, the term gross violations were expressed by Rizal himself.

Mahfud M.D, ex-Minister of Law and Human Rights, was in the opinion that as Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Marine Resources, Rizal Ramli had no rights or authority to decide the fate of a reclamation project in Jakarta Bay not mention deciding the cancellation of the reclamation. Any cancellation decision is fully at the hand of the President. What Rizal Ramli did had no connection with the Governor of Jakarta. Naturally Ahok as a governor was in the right position to raise the matter directly to the president.

We all have interests that all parties concerned have proportional opinion. There are some countries that have successful development of their sea reclamation such as Singapore, our neighboring country and Dubai in the Middle East. Apart of the criminal problems associated with frauds, and violations regulation which might be done by developers, environmental and the fate of fishermen issues, we must see the reclamation project in Jakarta Bay implemented as an integral part of coastal development capital (NCICD) as a project that can provide a positive effect in a long term to Great Jakarta as a whole as referred to in Presidential Decree No. 17 of 1994 and No. 5.

Permata Hijau Flyover Avoids One Level Crossing

Jakarta is famous for its traffic jams. People are accustomed to cars and motorcycles packing on Jakarta streets. The number of cars and motorcycles are increasing significantly but very little new roads are built. To cope with this grave situation, Jakarta City Government built flyovers in several places especially above the roads crossing the peripheral railway track to curb the possible accidents colliding with the train. 

One of them is Permata Hijau flyover built crossing the railway Tanah Abang-Rangkasbitung completed in the first week of January 2016. Its length measured 533 meters and 12-meter height with a construction cost of Rp131 billion. 

Prior to the construction of the flyover, the road connecting Permata Hijau and Senayan is always packed with cars and motorcycles in the morning and afternoon especially at the spot where the road crosses over the railway tracks causing people to be late to go to offices or be back home in the afternoon.

The contractor was able to complete such a huge task successfully especially when they had to set the construction during the rainy season. Believe it or not, although we live in the modern era, a rumor circulated that while constructing the flyover the contractor hired 12 metaphysicists from Kalimantan, Central Java, and Banten to prevent the rain from falling down at the constructional area, thus, preserve the quality of wet cement from degrading. 

Though it is contrary to the logic, some people still use the service of metaphysicists to prevent rain in a wedding or cultural ceremony and performance but it looks funny when applied for civil construction work such Permata Hijau Flyover. 

Notwithstanding just few hundred meters from the flyover, there is a small pathway crossing the railway that some people still drive their cars and motorcycles across causing the danger of collision with the train remains. There are some free-lance boys (popularly called Pak Ogah) who guard the railway-crossing, but they work occasionally.

It seems that the purpose of Permata Hijau flyover construction which costs hundreds of billions of rupiah is in vain. The public discipline should be strongly held. The attitude of the government towards the people’s indiscipline is too weak especially to those considered as marginal such those who occupy the railway track or river banks.

We are waiting for firm action from the local authority. We can no longer tolerate people who don’t mind with the government effort to manage the traffic spending billon of rupiah. On behalf of orderliness, people should be ready to just take a little tour using the new imposing flyover built to make life better.