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A group of concerned citizens is threatening to sue Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo should he fail to sufficiently open the draft of the city’s development master plan for input from the public.

The draft of the spacial master plan bylaw, known as RTRW 2030, which will be the capital’s development guideline for the next 20 years, has been criticized for lacking public participation. The city has made the plan available on the Internet, along with a mailing address and online comment form, but critics say that’s not good enough if citizens don’t know it’s there.

Nurkholis Hidayat, director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said the group was concerned that the bylaw would only accommodate investors’ interests, “while the regular citizens, the poor and the informal sectors will be displaced.”

He spoke at a news conference called by the Citizens’ Coalition for Jakarta 2030, which consists of experts, nonprofit organizations and social organizations concerned about the bylaw.

Nurkholis said the coalition would give legal notification to the governor today.

“This is a serious warning. If there is no response from the city administration within 15 days, we will file a lawsuit,” he said.

Nurkholis said the coalition’s main objective was to make the master plan bylaw draft — which will include the city’s transportation system, development and flood mitigation system — open to the public. The draft is still being completed by the city administration and will then be handed over to the City Council for discussion and endorsement.

City Council deputy chairman Triwisaksana said the council would invite coalition members and others to discuss the bylaw draft, which he said councilors expected to receive in May.

“All this time, many spatial plans have been violated. We don’t want that to continue to happen,” Triwisaksana said. “We don’t want only capitalists benefit from the bylaw.”

Cucu Ahmad Kurnia, a city spokesman, told the Jakarta Globe that the draft was still with the Jakarta Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) and was open for input. He said the threatened lawsuit was unnecessary and that the city was prepared to respond.

“We have invited groups of people to discuss the bylaw draft and we also opened the Jakarta City Planning Gallery for people to get information on Jakarta’s future development,” he said.

The bylaw draft is available at www.rtrwjakarta2030.com.

Marco Kusumawijaya, an urban planner and member of the coalition, said the city’s efforts to promote the master plan and invite public input were clearly not enough because many people were still unaware of its existence.

“We are currently doing a survey and many people don’t know that the city is discussing the bylaw that will determine the city’s and their children’s future,” he said.