Authorities are ramping up an investigation into a 30 km bamboo fence installed off the Tangerang coast, while another, similar structure has cropped up off the northern coast of Bekasi, with speculation pointing to a possible link to ongoing property or land reclamation projects in Greater Jakarta.
uthorities say they are investigating who might be behind a mysterious bamboo fence erected in coastal waters off Tangerang, Banten, though critics suspect the barrier was erected as markers for a reclamation project to which the government has turned a blind eye.
No individual or entity has claimed responsibility for the fence, which spans 30 kilometers of Tangerang’s 51 km coastline along the Java Sea and was reportedly installed sometime last year.
It gained widespread public attention only recently after pictures and videos of it went viral on social media, catching the eye of President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday.
This prompted the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to seal off the “illegal” structure, although authorities fell short of dismantling it entirely.
Maritime affairs minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said the ministry’s operating procedures prevented authorities from dismantling the structure without first confirming who built and financed it.
“But when we have confirmed [who committed] the violation, we will hand down an administrative sanction and ask them to dismantle it,” Wahyu said in a video statement posted on the ministry’s official Instagram account (@kkpgoid) on Friday.
The ministry’s marine and fishery resources management director general, Pung Nugroho Saksono, said in a press release on Jan. 9 that a joint investigation last September by the Indonesian Marine Police and the Banten Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Agency confirmed that the fence was illegal, because it did not have the marine spatial utilization activity (KKPRL) license.
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