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coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) has rejected the recently approved bylaw on spatial planning, calling the ordinance “unconstitutional”.

The coalition, which includes the Rujak Center for Urban Studies research center, the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) and a community group who claimed to represent residents of Jl. Antasari in South Jakarta, said that the new bylaw, which would serve as a blueprint for all new developments in the city for the next two decades, would only worsen current conditions in Jakarta.

“The deliberation of the bylaw has sidelined the public’s participation. The bylaw itself does not consider sustainable city planning or citizens’ right to justice,” coalition spokesman Irvan Pulungan told a press conference in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

Irvan also said that the spatial planning bylaw failed to consider efforts on disaster mitigation and protection for the environment.

He said the bylaw did not refer to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s Jakarta Disaster Map, which had determined that all areas in Jakarta were disaster-prone.

“The agency has given red marks to all areas indicating that Jakarta is prone to all types of disaster, including flood and fire, but the bylaw only gives a few red marks,” he said.

Other provisions in the bylaw could also lead to environmental problems.

“The bylaw contains several articles that could threaten the city’s ecology. Article 145 allows South Jakarta to change its function as a water absorption zone into a business center,” activist Edy Gurning of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (said.

Edy also said that some articles in the bylaw contradicted other regulations.

He said that the bylaw contained a number of clauses mandating the reclamation of Jakarta’s northern coastal region, a move that the coalition claimed had been rendered unlawful by the Supreme Court.

“The bylaw is inappropriate and unconstitutional, and should be revoked,” Edy said.

The 2010-2030 spatial planning bylaw mandates among others that the city set up an integrated mass transportation system, connecting the Transjakarta Busway, the planned mass rapid transit (MRT) and monorail system, which is expected to accommodate 60 percent of the total trips made by Jakartans.

The bylaw also calls for the development and improvement of pedestrian walkways and dedicated bicycle lanes.

Regarding flood problems, the bylaw requires the city to dredge 13 main rivers running through the city, improve the capacity of the West and East Flood Canals and the Cengkareng Drain, and connect the two flood canals.

The ordinance also mandates the construction of new dams as well as improving the existing ones.

Under the bylaw, the city administration is required to build a giant sea wall off of Jakarta’s north coast.

The coalition said that together the massive projects mentioned in the bylaw would spell certain ecological disaster for Jakarta.

The coalition expects to file a judicial review to the Supreme Court by 2012. (swd)