W

hen Jakarta governor-elect Anies Baswedan ran his political campaign, he promised that unlike the current administration he would make sure that the Jakarta Bay reclamation project would have no place under his leadership.

Now, five months before he takes office, Anies and his expert team are still trying to find legal options to stop the reclamation project. They said they were aware a possible legal battle against developers would be costly.

Three of the 17 artificial islets in the reclamation project are already finished and were being developed by private parties. Islets C and D belong to PT Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI), a subsidiary of developer Agung Sedayu Group, while islet G was constructed by PT Muara Wisesa Samudra (MWS), a subsidiary of Agung Podomoro Land (APLN).

Marco Kusumawijaya, a member of Anies’ transition team, which they are calling a “synchronization team,” said he was certain the companies would not win anything, even if they sought compensation for damages caused by the loss of their investments, or filed civil suits.

The projects, he said, had been started without the proper required legal documents and had no permits to proceed.

Despite the city administration’s claim that the project was an attempt to accommodate the capital’s population growth, some of the artificial islands are set to host luxury housing and golf courses, with properties being sold for Rp 30 million (US$2,235) per square meter.

“This is a good lesson for everyone. You need to obtain the required documents first before starting to sell your products,” Marco told reporters.

While making sure that no reclamation permits would be issued by the next administration, the Anies team is also considering taking over islets C, D and G from the private companies so the city can convert them into public facilities.

Marco added that other legal instruments, including an application for a judicial review of the 1995 presidential decree that gave the city administration authority to issue reclamation permits, were currently being discussed by Anies’ team of experts. The decree, which was issued by the late president Soeharto, Marco said, was no longer relevant and should be revised.

“At that time we did not have an environmental law or a zoning law that contradicted the decree, but Soeharto was very powerful at that time,” he said.

However, while the future Anies administration plans to get tough on reclamation, the business climate in Jakarta might be affected by the controversy and the legal uncertainty that shrouds the issue.

Danang Girindrawardana, the deputy chairman of public policy at the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), said he was sure that the companies would file a lawsuit against the administration if their projects were taken over as they had invested a large amount of money.

“Who will compensate them for their investment loss? It will adversely affect the business climate,” Danang said.

A hydrologist from the University of Indonesia (UI) and also one of the initiators and proponents of the Jakarta Bay reclamation, Firdaus Ali, said he was aware of the many pros and cons surrounding the project, but asked any relevant parties to think beyond their political promises.

Firdaus said he was certain that reclamation was the only way to provide space for millions of new residents in the future.

“It is normal to say you reject reclamation during a campaign period, but to shut down the project completely is not as simple as that. We need reclamation,” he asserted.