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Makassar bylaw on reclamation endorsed despite protests
The legislative council of Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Friday approved the 2015 to 2035 city bylaw on spatial planning, despite protests from a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
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he legislative council of Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Friday approved the 2015 to 2035 city bylaw on spatial planning, despite protests from a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The NGOs objected to the bylaw, which allowed the city administration to reclaim the coastal area around Losari Beach, Makassar, saying that it would further damage the environment and harm local people.
The executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment's (Walhi) South Sulawesi branch, Asmar Exwar, said reclamation would damage the ecosystem of the coastal area, including mangroves and coral, important for the growth of sea biota.
The local community, especially fishermen, according to Asmar, would also suffer from losing places to catch fish and scallops, which had been their main source of income.
'That is why we are against the endorsement of the bylaw,' Asmar said.
During the plenary session to approve the bylaw at the city legislative council building on Friday, which was also attended by Makassar Deputy Mayor Syamsu Rizal, dozens of environmental activists and coastal people staged a rally and demanded the council cancel their approval of the bylaw.
Separately, the city council's speaker Farouk said that the deliberation on the draft bylaw was tough and took four years to complete.
Some councilors, he said, did not agree with the reclamation, but after long deliberations the bylaw was finally approved.
'We agreed on the reclamation and on putting it in the bylaw with 13 conditions that had to be fulfilled,' said Basdir, a Democratic Party councilor who was previously against the bylaw.
He said that among the conditions were requirements to pay attention to ecological, social and economical impacts, to thoroughly complete the licenses and to publicize the development plan design, as well as to spare 30 percent of the area as a public open green space and reserve 20
percent for the private sector.
Other conditions include a requirement that the reclaimed area does not directly border land.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the council's special committee for the deliberation of the bylaw, Abdul Wahab Tahir, said that all the processes to have the bylaw approved had been undertaken.
'The planned reclamation will not damage the environment. In fact, it will save the city's damaged coastal area,' said Wahab, adding that the reclamation was an environmental-based mitigation designed by the city administration.
Makassar Mayor Mohammad Ramdhan Pomanto said that the planned reclamation was prepared following a thorough study of the condition of the area conducted with the involvement of academics.
'The reclamation will in fact save the coastal environment that is currently facing a threat of
damage from climate change and
a high sedimentation rate,' the mayor said.
The fate of local community, Ramdhan said, would also be recognized. With reclamation, he said, the people's welfare would be even better as more job opportunities would be available.
The area to be reclaimed amounted to some 4,000 hectares, expanding from the south to the north of Losari Beach, spanning for some 35 kilometers in length.
A Center Point of Indonesia (CPI) and a new port would be developed in the reclaimed area. The ground-breaking ceremony for the development of these facilities was conducted recently by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.
Previously, the Makassar Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said it would take legal steps if the draft bylaw for spatial planning that allowed the controversial reclamation plan was approved by the city's legislative council
'We have designed the legal step we will take,' LBH Makassar's spokesperson Zulkifli Hasanuddin, said.
