JAKARTA – Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has earned plaudits in his two years as governor of Jakarta for his efforts to transform the capital into an orderly and modern metropolis. However, his support for property developers seeking to create luxury islands in Jakarta Bay has landed the governor in a political and legal mess.
The Jakarta Bay reclamation project in North Jakarta calls for 17 artificial islands, mainly to house high-end residential and commercial facilities. Eight are already under construction.
But the project is surrounded by controversy. It was first broached in 1995 when the Jakarta government proposed to then-President Suharto that building the islands would be a good way to expand the city’s land area.
Although Suharto quickly issued a presidential decree approving the project it was strongly opposed by the environment and forestry ministry, which argued that reclamation would harm the environment. Over the next 20 years the issue became a subject of fierce conflict within the government and the courts. The environment ministry and the Jakarta city administration have refused to back down and have appealed every court ruling.
After suffering a setback with an unfavorable ruling by the Supreme Court in 2009, developers were buoyed by the arrival of Basuki as Jakarta governor. Basuki has openly supported the reclamation project, which includes 16 artificial islands owned by the developers and one by Pelindo II, a state port operator, which plans to use it to expand Tanjung Priok port.
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