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‘Village People’ Must Wake Up to Save Capital From Disaster, Planner Warns

Careless residents, ignorance of environmental issues and the government’s unclear policies could resign Jakarta to an unsustainable future, an urban planner warned on Wednesday.

“Jakarta is a modern city but its citizens are like village people, undisciplined, always littering and never caring or even bothered about the environment,” Yayat Supriyatna of Trisakti University told the Jakarta Globe.

He added that he often wondered whether the city would be able to accommodate “just 10 million people,” by 2030.

A sustainable city, Yayat said, would respect the relationship between the city’s economy, ecology and equity.

That means that economic activity should be self-renewing, that environment issues should be prioritized and that the city’s communities should participate fully in all decision-making, particularly regarding plans to transform the capital.

Urban planning expert Gordon Grant Benton said Jakarta should be able to improve itself with political will as well as a “forward thinking” attitude on plans for the city. But he emphasized that it would take political, financial and legal power to implement change.

“Jakarta is the capital city. All parties must be involved and take responsibility,” Benton said, adding that the administration should consider the fact that residents from municipalities in the greater metro area such as Tangerang, Bogor, Depok and Bekasi, were also contributing to the problem.

Benton stressed that traditional developers were only concerned about making a quick profit from massive projects in the capital. But what the city needs, he said, is “green politics,” in which developers emphasize sustainability in their planning.

Jakarta has become a concrete jungle packed with apartments, malls and skyscrapers, failing to provide the 30 percent of green space stipulated by the law on zoning.

According to the Parks and Cemeteries Agency, green space currently only accounts for 9.6 percent of Jakarta, or about 6,240 hectares. Thirty percent of the city’s land area would translate to roughly 19,500 hectares of green space.

Benton said that in regard to provision of water for the city, it is unsustainable to use city water firm PDAM Jaya because its water quality is extremely bad. A sustainable concept would require a reduction in the use of water provided by the utility and the inclusion of water treatment plants. Benton also said that in the future, every area should have its own water treatment plant.

As for energy, sustainable development should rely on alternative sources like solar or wind as well as more efficient buildings. Jakarta in 2030 is meant to be a modern city with an integrated system of transport with Busway and Mass Rapid Transit and other facilities to accommodate the demands of the fast-growing population.

The spatial planning for Jakarta’s future is discussed in the city’s Master Spatial Planning Bylaw (RTRW), which lists the guidelines for the city’s future development.

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