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ublicly listed developer PT Agung Podomoro Land (APLN) is planning to develop mini cities worth billions of dollars on reclaimed land in northern Jakarta.

President director Trihatma Kusuma Haliman said the company had obtained the principal permit for the project '€” Pluit City '€” and was currently assessing the environmental impact of the project.

'€œWe will apply for a reclamation permit once the assessment is completed,'€ Trihatma told The Jakarta Post in an interview last Friday.

'€œWe hope to start the project soon.'€

APLN intends to create three islands in the Java Sea waters and connect each with bridges and a highway to mainland Jakarta.

Thousands of houses, apartment units and other supporting facilities will be built on the three islands, which will be able to host around 700,000 people, according to Trihatma.

APLN will also develop dikes and brick walls to protect Jakarta'€™s mainland from the sea as well as preserve the mangrove forests, according to Trihatma.

The revitalization of a fishing kampong in Muara Angke may also be undertaken.

'€œThe total investment for the three islands may reach Rp 50 trillion [US$4.95 billion],'€ Trihatma said.

'€œThe project may take 10 years for development.'€

Given the amount of investment and the project'€™s length, APLN will need to allocate at least Rp 5 trillion every year.

Trihatma said that as a listed public company, APLN would face no significant problems in raising the funds for the project.

APLN recently sold Rp 1.2 trillion in debt papers '€” the first part of its Rp 2.5 trillion continuous bonds issuances.

APLN shares were traded at Rp 345 apiece on Friday, unchanged from the previous closing.

The company reaped Rp 272 billion in net profit in the first quarter of the year, a slight 3 percent increase from the same period last year.

Its cash and cash equivalent stood at Rp 2.6 trillion as of the end of March.

'€œThis will be APLN'€™s flagship project. In Jakarta'€™s [mainland] we can only develop a complex rather than a complete zone,'€ Trihatma said.

'€œOn this reclamation area, we can develop what we want perfectly based on our own concept,'€ he said, adding the company had covered swamps in Sunter, North Jakarta, for the project and would now cover the sea.

Green Lake, another of the company'€™s projects, is a superblock development on 4 hectares of land in Sunter.

APLN is also now developing a superblock called Green Bay Pluit on a 12-hectare site on the North Jakarta coastline that will be close to the Pluit City project.

APLN'€™s Pluit City project is part of the Jakarta administration'€™s plan to develop the northern territory as the mainland area is close to residential saturation.

Jakarta '€” the country'€™s 740-square-kilometer capital city '€” is currently home to more than 10 million people.

The administration is planning to reclaim more land and create 17 new islands.

The creation of the landfill islands was first proposed by former Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo as the first step in building a Rp 280 trillion giant sea wall.

A number of developers are reportedly seeking to take part in the reclamation project.

The reclamation project has drawn criticism from environmental activists and experts who argue it will damage sea resources and hamper the flow of water from rivers running through the capital, which in turn will make the annual Jakarta flooding even worse.