T

he Jakarta administration has insisted that there was no conflict of interest in the drafting of a land reclamation bylaw despite claims that two people involved in the deliberations were known to be affiliated with one of the developers of man-made islets off the city'€™s north coast.

The draft bylaw on the Jakarta north coast strategic area specifically regulates spatial planning for the planned 17 man-made islets.

Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati said that, in drafting the bylaw, the city administration had cooperated with a number of experts, both academics and professionals.

Among the experts were Sawarendro, a civil engineer at Dutch engineering firm Witteveen+Bos, which is also a consultant for Islet C and D developer PT Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI), the subsidiary of developer giant Agung Sedayu. During a recent meeting, the city council'€™s legislation board also invited KNI president director Nono Sampono to discuss the draft bylaw as an expert on land reclamation.

'€œ[Sawarendro] has been very professional and has not once mentioned his position [at Witteveen+Bos and KNI]. He has sufficient knowledge of hydrology and that is what we need. There is no conflict of interest,'€ Tuty told The Jakarta Post recently.

She explained that Sawarendro'€™s contributions to the draft bylaw include advice regarding water resource infrastructure and facilities system.

'€œThere are not many people who are experienced in land reclamation, therefore [Sawarendro] has greatly contributed to the drafting of the bylaw,'€ Tuty said.

Separately, city council legislation board member Bestari Barus of the NasDem Party claimed that councillors were critical of all experts and had many questions that were still unanswered. He guaranteed that, by balancing the city administration knowledge, the city council was doing its job in drafting the bylaw.

'€œWe still have many questions [...] The bylaw will not be issued before our questions are answered,'€ Bestari said.

Despite the fact that the bylaw has not yet been approved, two firms have started construction, namely KNI and Agung Podomoro Land subsidiary PT Muara Wisesa Samudera. KNI is in charge of developing islets A through E while Muara is developing islet G. Both developers have even started marketing properties at Golf City on islet D and Pluit City on islet G.

The North Jakarta National Land Agency (BPN) had revealed that developers were obliged to obtain a right-to-build certificate (HGB) from the Jakarta administration, as the sole holder of a right-to-manage certificate (HPL), before commencing construction. However, the North Jakarta BPN has yet to issue an HPL to the city administration, meaning that construction has, thus far, been carried out without an HGB.

Furthermore, City Council Deputy Speaker M. Taufik of the Gerindra Party claimed that he was unaware that Nono Sampono was the president director of KNI. Nono was recently invited to a meeting to discuss the draft bylaw as an expert.

'€œHe [Nono] was invited because of his dissertation on reclamation. Therefore, he is an expert,'€ said Taufik, who is also head of the council'€™s legislation board.

When asked whether Nono was also invited in his capacity as the president director of KNI, Taufik said he was not aware that Nono was a president director. '€œIn fact, I learned of this from you [reporters],'€ he said.

Speaking to the Post over the phone, Sawarendro said that, in cooperating with the Jakarta administration, he was invited as an experienced practitioner, having been involved in reclamation programs for some 20 years. Sawarendro, who is also chairman of the Indonesia Land Reclamation and Water Management Institute, also denied of any conflict of interest.

'€œI am cooperating with the Jakarta administration as an experienced practitioner. I'€™ve worked on land reclamation projects in the Netherlands as well as in several Southeast Asian countries,'€ he said.

Sawarendro said that with sufficient experience in land reclamation, he cooperated with the city administration to make sure that no mistakes or negative impacts occur.

Separately, Nono said that he came in the capacity of an ordinary citizen who had studied land reclamation. '€œI offer my academic research and my insight on reclamation. I hope it can complement their knowledge. I saw that their understanding is getting better,'€ he said.

Nono said he began his research on Jakarta Bay in 2009 and completed it in 2013, for his doctorate degree. '€œI consider reclamation to be unavoidable. If there is an impact, from the project, we just need to find the solution,'€ he said.