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Jakarta Post

City to limit population to 12.5 million by 2030

Jakarta administration and City Council have agreed to limit the population of the capital to no more than 12

Andreas D. Arditya (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, August 26, 2011

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City to limit population to 12.5 million by 2030

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akarta administration and City Council have agreed to limit the population of the capital to no more than 12.5 million in the next 20 years, stating the target in the city’s 2010-2030 Spatial Planning Bylaw.

The bylaw is putting population caps for each municipality and regency in proportion to the respective area’s width and function designation.

Central Jakarta’s population is expected to be no more than 1.15 million, North Jakarta 2.325 million, West Jakarta 3.162 million, South Jakarta 2.825, East Jakarta 3.012 million and Thousand Islands Regency 25,000 people.

The Spatial Planning mandates the construction of highrise residential buildings to accommodate people in high-density areas; super blocks of apartments that provide enough water catchment areas.

These high-density population areas are to be connected to the transit system network, which is an integrated mass-transportation system, connecting the commuter train network, Transjakarta Busway, the planned Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and a monorail system.

The transit system is expected to accommodate 60 percent of the total trips made by Jakartans.

An improved network of distribution pipes is expected to be able to provide clean water to every corner of the city, with more water-treatment installations to meet the demand of the population.

Jakarta areas will be divided into categories of functions, including strategic-economic areas, environmental areas, residential areas and social-cultural areas. Strategic-economic areas are expected to cater for high-intensity economic activities with a nation-wide and world-wide scope.

The Spatial Planning bylaw was finally signed by the City Council on Tuesday, missing the initial target of December last year.

The bylaw, however, has been criticized for failing to meet the actual needs of the public and instead bowing to pressure from business.

Nirwono Joga, an urban planning analyst at Jakarta-based Trisakti University, said Thursday that the Council and the City were focusing more on big projects, but failing to address issues that were important to citizens.

“Setting the population cap at 12.5 million would be a very difficult target to achieve, considering the current growth rate of the population,” Nirwono told The Jakarta Post. The analyst cited the planned MRT and six new inner-city toll roads which were among the projects.

Experts had expected that Jakarta would likely have a total of between 15 and 20 million residents in the next 20 years.

“This issue should be addressed because it directly results in demand for transportation and housing,” he said, saying that the drafting process for the Spatial Planning was heavily driven by politics.

Both the council and the administration have denied rumors of the financial lobbying of officials in the course of the bylaw approval.

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