Walhi laments court ruling on land reclamation project

Non-governmental organization Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) on Friday protested against a Supreme Court ruling permitting a controversial land reclamation project on the northern coast of Jakarta.

“We really regret the ruling because it is a 180-degree setback,” Walhi Jakarta executive director Ubaidillah said Friday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Ubaidillah said his organization and several other NGOs were pushing for the inclusion of an environmental impact statement [Amdal] in the draft of the Jakarta spatial plan.

Ubaidillah said the reclamation project had been stalled since developers failed to include the required statement as stipulated in the spatial plan.
“In our opinion, all projects related to the land reclamation should be delayed pending the [statement].”

He said several developers had influenced the court in its decision, adding that his organization was investigating the possible intervention.

“Should we find any indication of corruption [in the ruling], we will report the case to the Constitutional Court,” Ubaidillah said.

The Supreme Court, on its official website, on Thursday announced that it had approved a judicial review request filed by one of the developers, Tjondro Indria Leimonta, against the environment minister, Walhi and others.

The Environment Ministry had earlier said the reclamation project was against the law, citing that the clearing of a mangrove wetlands area to make way for commercial premises would damage the environment. The ministry then ordered developers to stop all activities in the disputed areas.

However, six developers involved in the project challenged the ministerial decision through civil courts and the Supreme Court.