City to close Marunda public beach

JAKARTA: The administration will close Marunda beach in North Jakarta to build a special economic zone in the area.

Deputy Governor Prijanto said the administration wanted to create a sophisticated harbor and trade center similar to areas in Japan.

"Japan has a port area along its beach, which consists of only harbors, ships and warehouses," he was quoted as saying by news portal tempointeraktif.com.

Prijanto said he would employ local people as workers in the project so they would not lose their livelihoods.

"Being a fisherman is hard. It would be better for them to have better jobs with guaranteed incomes," he said. - JP