The City Council urged the administration to drop its plan to back the controversial 2030 spatial planning draft bylaw, suggesting the latter heed the demands of its residents.
“Spatial planning concerns Jakartans,” Council deputy speaker Triwisaksana said Monday. “It would be better to accommodate the needs of [residents] rather than force the enactment of the bylaw.
“Forcing the enactment may lead to more trouble in the future,” he continued.
Triwisaksana said the administration had yet to submit the final draft of the bylaw to the council.
However, the bylaw would remain in the priority list of bylaws scheduled to be passed this year, he added.
Since the bylaw would heavily affect the lives of residents for the next 30 years, he asserted, it was imperative that the administration communicate with residents before it becomes law.
On Sunday, residents, grouped in the Citizens Coalition for Jakarta 2030, have threatened to file a civil lawsuit against the administration following the administration’s dismissal of the legal warning from the coalition.
The coalition further extended the invitation to the public to join the class action.
It claimed to have opened several posts and threatened class action on its website, koalisijakarta2030.wordpress.com. It invites all residents who believe the administration should accommodate more public participation in the spatial planning draft.
The coalition accused the administration for violating four laws and a ministerial regulation. In response to the call, City Development Board head Nurfakih Wirawan claimed that his administration had adequately collected feedback from the residents.
“But, we deemed that [effort] ineffectual,” Nurfakih said.
Nurfakih said the administration was still open to input any time before the bylaw was enacted.
“Even during the discussion at the City Council, people still have the opportunity to provide input,” he added.
He played down the idea of accepting input from the coalition as the group had demanded the administration start the discussion from scratch.
He said the administration was racing against time.
“We have a target to meet,” he asserted.
The old spatial plan will expire this year and the administration is expected to have prepared a new one. The 2007 Law on Provincial Spatial Planning stipulates that all provinces must have finalized new plans by April 2009.
Activists lamented that no public announcements or exposes were made last year.
They said some focus group discussions were carried out by the administration only involving few experts. They also said some public consultations were more a series of events, where the administration told the public about the content of the draft but did not accommodate to the public’s demand.
“We have discussed with figures from the coalition but because one party did not respect the other, the issues are becoming complicated,” Nurfakih said.
He said his administration would prepare a legal defense should the coalition lodge its lawsuit against the administration.
