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eteran Golkar politician and former minister under president Soeharto, Cosmas Batubara, has become the hope of property giant PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL) in its dispute with the government over the controversial reclamation project in Jakarta Bay.

Cosmas, who is currently APL president director, rejected Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs Rizal Ramli’s statement that the company had been reckless in building islet G, which is one of 17 islets in the reclamation project.

“We never ignore rules and regulations when we do our work,” Cosmas, who held two ministerial offices, as minister of public housing and minister of manpower, during the Soeharto era, said in press conference on Saturday.

Cosmas who was previously APL’s president commissioner, was appointed company president replacing Ariesman Widjaja after the latter was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in April this year.

The KPK arrested Ariesman along with Jakarta councilor Muhammad Sanusi in a bribery case related to the deliberation of draft bylaws on the reclamation project.

Rizal Ramli announced on Thursday that a joint investigative team from various ministries concluded that work on Islet G violated several regulations, as it was built on top of undersea electricity cables and gas pipelines and amid shipping lanes.

The team also recommended that the on-going construction should be stopped and the sand that has already been dumped in the bay should be removed. The minister also pointed out that the project was severely damaging to the environment.

APL subsidiary, PT Muara Wisesa Samudra (PT MWS) got the principal permit for the work in September 2012. The permit was issued by Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in his role as acting governor when then governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was on leave for his presidential campaign.

The Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) for the project was issued in June 2014 and the company got the Infrastructure Construction Permit (IMP) in October before eventually getting the construction permit in December 2014.

The company also hired globally reputed companies like UK-based consultant Royal DHV and Dutch companies – Boskalis and Van Oord to carry out the project.

PT MWS president director Halim Kumala rejected the minister’s claims and said the shape of the islet was in line with the existing utilities under the sea, including the electricity cables and gas pipelines.

Halim said the presence of the utilities had been recognized by the designer of the islet before any construction work by MWS began. “The designer had already distanced the islet from the utilities by 25 meters. We then decided to make it even farther, to 75 meters,” he said.

APL has made required contributions to the city administration in connection with its permits to build Islet G. These include the construction of low-cost apartments in Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, and the construction of a parking facility at the Jakarta Police headquarters.

In an agreement between Ahok and APL’s Ariesman when they met in 2014, MWS was given other projects to complete as additional contributions for Islet G.

These comprise the construction of a pump house and sluice gate on the Angke River, the revitalization of Angke dock, the renovation of low-cost apartments in Marunda, North Jakarta, and building the embankment as planned in the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) project.