Editorial: Jakarta’s new blueprint

The City Council’s approval of the Jakarta 2010-2030 spatial plan — a new city development blueprint for the next two decades — on Wednesday is expected to encourage the provincial authorities to repair the chaotic condition of the city as a result of rampant violations of the previous spatial plan, which expired in 2010.

Failure to uphold land appropriation is the most blatant example of the city authorities’ violations of the 2000-2010 spatial plan. Many plots of land were allocated for green areas, but eventually were converted into commercial areas and other urban facilities. As a result, the city’s green areas continue to deplete to only about 9 percent of the city’s territory of 650 square kilometers, far behind the ideal figure of 30 percent.

It is good that the new bylaw on city spatial plan sets an ambitious target of earmarking 30 percent of the territory for green areas. But we doubt it would materialize as the plan lacks details on how to achieve the target. Just for the record, the city authorities were unable to meet the target of allocating 13.94 percent of the city’s area for green areas under the previous spatial plan.

On paper, the new bylaw is commendable on how it rules on how the city should be developed over the next 20 years. Among the main issues stipulated in the bylaw are transportation and flood management, two problems that have been plaguing the capital for decades. Under the new bylaw, the city will expand the role of public transportation – the integration of Transjakarta Busway, railway, MRT and monorail, which is designed to accommodate 60 percent of the total trips in the city. Another creditable ruling is the development and improvement of pedestrian walkways and construction bicycle lanes across the city, which shows the city management’s concern about environment preservation. The ordinance also suggests a move to dredge 13 main rivers dissecting the city and improvement of the capacity of the west and east flood canals and Cengkareng Drain as well as construction of a giant sea wall on the North Jakarta coast. All the projects would significantly mitigate the impacts of seasonal flooding.

The spatial bylaw also orders the city administration to draft two more bylaws on the detailed spatial planning and zoning regulation. The zoning bylaw is to support the ruling stipulated in the 2010-2030 spatial bylaw, especially the formation of five zoning functions of the city: the informal sector, residential areas, economy, environment and social and culture.

As soon as the new spatial plan comes into effect, hopes will abound that the future development of Jakarta will result in a metropolitan city that is a better place to live. But the bylaw, despite its good intentions, will remain a document if there is no strong commitment to implement it. Therefore, the bylaw must accept participation of the general public to ensure its transparent implementation.