Giant Sea Wall Jakarta
[1][2] The coastal development project includes the construction of a giant seawall along the coast, building a water reservoir, and the reclamation of land.
[8] The project is known as National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) master plan or Giant Sea Wall Jakarta.
The project, which also has the task of revitalizing the coastline and most importantly offering a vision of the future for the Indonesian capital, was designed by the architecture firm KuiperCompagnons of Rotterdam and with a collaboration between Indonesia, and a consortium of Dutch companies (Witteveen+Bos and Grontmij), which formed National Capital Integrated Coastal Development and were all involved in the creation of the master plan that started in 2008.
The annex to the decree showed that the reclamation was not in the form of separate islands off the northern coastline but rather an expansion of the coastal area.
The Ministry argued that the reclamation would increase flood risks, particularly in the northern areas, destroy marine ecosystems, and reduce fishermen's income.
The project would also require around 330 million cubic meters of sand (for an area of 2,700 hectares),[11] and would interfere with Muara Karang power plant in North Jakarta.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Ministry of Environment in the case against the six contractors' appeal, stating the reclamation was not feasible at the cassation level.
This giant sea wall will be built in the form of a Garuda (the large mythical bird which is Indonesia's national symbol) and expected to become an iconic structure modelled after Singapore's Sentosa Island.
Cost of the project is estimated about US$40 billion,[16] and will be an international collaboration between the governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands, paving the way for further bilateral trade between the two countries.
[17] Two phases of this mega-project are: The giant sea wall will also become a center of urban development, which will be built by private partnership investments.
The new integrated waterfront city will also involve 17 artificial islands, complete with toll roads, a railway, and seaport, and should be able to absorb approximately two million people.
The project is not without negative environmental impacts and social consequences: one study by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia found that the project, once underway, could erode the islands in the western part of the bay of Jakarta, destroy the coral reef and lead to the stagnation of polluted water behind the sea wall.
[19] If the great seawalls fail to shut out seawater or the project is suspended or postponed due to economic turmoil, engineering difficulties, environmental impact, or political decisions, and assuming that efforts to reduce land subsidence are not carried out, downtown Jakarta would eventually become submerged.
[17] On Thursday evening, 31 March 2016, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) conducted a hand-catching operation (OTT) against a member of the DKI Jakarta Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD), Mohamad Sanusi, after receiving a total bribe of IDR 1,140,000,000.
[26] As a result of this arrest, on April 18, 2016, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Rizal Ramli, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar, and the Governor of Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama decided to temporarily halt or moratorium the reclamation of the North Jakarta Coast.
