D

espite Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar’s opposition to the government’s decision to resume the controversial reclamation project in Jakarta Bay, if specific conditions are met work could restart within a month.

Siti said after a meeting at the State Palace on Friday, that her ministry would give the green light to PT Muara Wisesa Samudra (MWS), a subsidiary of PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL), to continue the construction of Islet G, one of the 17 artificial islets in Jakarta Bay, once it had fulfilled certain requirements, which it should be able to do in a matter of weeks.

The requirements include revision of the Environmental Impact Analysis (AMDAL) and the Strategic Environmental Assessment (KLHS) for the project.

“At a rough estimate, they will be completed within a month,” Siti said. “However, let’s see about it, although it is the duty of the ministry, along with the National Development Planning Board [Bappenas] and the Jakarta administration, to give information related to strategic environmental analysis of [the development work], the proposal to revise [the environmental documents] should come from the developer.”

The ministry had previously slapped an administrative sanction on Islet G, as well as islets C and D being built by Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI), a subsidiary of Agung Sedayu Group. The sanction was based on Law No. 32/2009 on environmental management and conservation.

The ministry had ordered MWS to revise its environmental analysis documents.

Siti said the revision should cover mitigation efforts and technicalities, including those related to gas pipelines owned by state-run energy firm Pertamina, as well as electricity cables, and an assessment that connects the islet development plan with the regional environmental mapping of West Java and Banten and Java’s northern coastal area.

West Java and Banten are affected by the project because the developers are mining the sea sand to build the islet in both areas.

Residents in Lontar village in Serang, Banten, who used to be fishermen and seaweed and milkfish farmers, have been forced to change their jobs as they cannot depend on the sea as a result of the sand mining for the reclamation project.

“The development project must also be in line with the central government’s NCICD master plan,” Siti insisted.

The NCICD, also known as the Giant Sea Wall, is aimed at protecting Jakarta from flooding from the sea and subsidence and is currently being drafted by Bappenas.

“The company should also lay out a plan on how to integrate social aspects into the overall project,” Siti said.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan previously claimed that MWS was now in the process of completing the requirements set by the Environment and Forestry Ministry.

“The developer of Islet G has made the list and is trying to fulfill all the requirements. Only two points have not been finalized,” he said, adding that the development was also in accordance with the government’s NCICD program.

He added that the two points comprised the AMDAL and the KLHS. “Both documents will be finished within two or three weeks,” he said.

Meanwhile, activists and fishermen grouped under the Coalition to Save Jakarta Bay announced that they plan to file a legal challenge to Luhut’s decision to resume the construction of Islet G.