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espite its hasty move to evict Pasar Ikan residents and plans to kick out residents of Luar Batang in North Jakarta, the city administration has not made a detailed plan on the revitalization of the areas.

Assistant to the governor for spatial planning and environment, Oswar Muadzin Mungkasa, said recently that the city administration did not have a master plan for the revitalization as it was still collecting information and taking suggestions from various parties regarding the design.

“I cannot talk about it right now. There will be an integrated design for the entire area,” Oswar said.

He did disclose that the areas would be divided into several zones, including open green space (RTH), heritage areas and others.

Oswar could not guarantee, however, that Pasar Ikan would get the integrated low-cost apartments that are supposedly going to be provided for evicted fishermen.

In April, about 4,200 joint personnel form the Jakarta Police, the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) evicted 347 households whose homes were standing on the coastline near Sunda Kelapa port.

The administration said it planned to create heritage maritime-based tourist attractions in the area, which is tucked between Sunda Kelapa port and the Maritime Museum.

The eviction was rejected by residents as the administration did not discuss its plans with them, instead just issuing a warning letter of the eviction date.

Most of the families were moved to Rawa Bebek rental apartment in East Jakarta, which is 25 kilometers away from their previous home and working space. The apartment, however, is only for single workers while apartments for families will not be ready until September. Some of the residents are also choosing to live on their boats.

The city is also mulling the eviction of residents in nearby Luar Batang, known for its historical mosque. The city plans to turn the area into a religious tourism site.

Oswar said that the eviction plan was still tentative. “The sure thing is that the mosque will have a plaza built in front,” he said.

Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati said that the revitalization of Pasar Ikan and Luar Batang would follow a detailed spatial planning bylaw and a gubernatorial regulation on the development of the Kota Tua heritage area.

“Revitalizing the area is also part of an effort to improve infrastructure for flood mitigation in Pakin and Luar Batang. It is part of a grand design by the city administration to save the area from sea flooding,” she said.

The city is planning to revamp the embankment on the coastline of Jakarta Bay as part of the National Coastal Integrated Capital Development (NCICD) program.

Candrian Attahiyat, former head of Jakarta’s cultural heritage conservation body, said the city had invited him twice to talk about the revitalization plan.

“However, none of the plans are fixed. We need to discuss them more,” he said.

Candrian, who is an archaeologist, said that he hoped the city administration would not sterilize the area by removing the community that was a part of its heritage.

“The area should live for 24 hours. It cannot just become a tourism site,” he said.

Candrian also warned the city administration about demolitions in historical areas and said it had not asked for his advice before knocking down evicted residents’ houses.

“They damaged the top of the 21.5-meter Kota Tua wall when they removed other buildings above,” he said.

Candrian said he hoped the city administration would be careful next time.

“We just found out there are remains of foundations of a colonial-era bridge connecting the museum to the fishing area. We need to warn the agency to be careful if they want to dredge the river,” he said.