Soekarno-Hatta airport should be relocated: Walhi

Antara ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 05/13/2008 3:23 PM  |  Jakarta

The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport should be relocated from Cengkareng, Banten, as the environment is increasingly unable to support it, an environmentalist said Tuesday.

Executive director of the Indonesian Environment Forum's (Walhi) Jakarta chapter, Slamet Daryoni, said it would not be wise to build infrastructure using an ad hoc approach.

"Ten or 20 years ago the environment was still able to support the airport, but currently its ability continues to decrease," he said.

"But based on the current situation, we will continue inefficient construction if we do not relocate the airport."

The airport's main access road was flooded last Thursday due to a tidal wave. The toll road is usually flooded during rainy season.

Slamet suggested the Jakarta provincial administration conduct an overall environmental audit to plan a development strategy.

"Many works being promised prior to the construction of the toll road are not fulfilled yet," he said.

"The government, for example, promised to plant mangroves up to 100 meters from the toll road, but there are none.

"It was also agreed that there would be no warehouses along the toll road, but now there are plenty of them."

Another problem, Slamet said, was the loss of water catchment area in Kapuk Muara after being developed into the exclusive Pantai Indah Kapuk residential area.

"The development reclaimed 831 hectares of swamp land with a capacity of 6.6 million cubic meter of water," he said.

Although most of the airport area is under the Tangerang mayoralty's jurisdiction in neighboring Banten province, the toll road lies mostly in Jakarta territory. (****)

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