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Jakarta. The Thousand Islands may be an administrative district within the province of Jakarta, but a lack of development has seen it fall far behind the rest of the capital in terms of even the most basic services.

District head Burhanuddin said he hoped to roll out more basic services for Thousand Islands residents, including around-the-clock electricity supply. At present, only six of the 11 inhabited islands in the chain are connected to the mainland grid.

“The Industry and Energy Office has budgeted Rp 180 billion [$20 million] for electricity infrastructure in the five northern inhabited islands,” Burhanuddin said. “We expect all of the inhabited islands to have 24-hour electricity by 2012.”

He said that once the power project was complete, his administration would turn its attention to providing island residents with potable water.

Eleven of the islands have one reverse osmosis plant each to provide clean water, but Burhanuddin said the number would have to be doubled to provide an adequate supply.

Currently, most islanders use groundwater, which is saline heavy, for washing, and water from the reverse osmosis plants for cooking and drinking. Clean water is also available from private suppliers for Rp 5,000 a gallon.

Burhanuddin said the lack of basic services could only be addressed once the 2010-2030 Jakarta Master Plan was approved by the City Council.

Other problems confronting the district include highly inflated food prices. No agriculture takes place on the islands, and all the fresh produce has to be shipped in from Jakarta.

In addition, the mountains of waste dumped into Jakarta Bay each day often wash up on the islands’ beaches or, worse still, on their coral reefs.

Burhanuddin said the reefs had been depleted by about half over the past few decades, contributing to the wide-scale erosion of the islands’ coastlines that has become a constant theme.

Of the 4,740 hectares of coral reefs that used to be sprinkled around the islands, only 2,375 hectares remain.

“The Thousand Islands have serious waste problems as all of the waste that is carried by the 13 rivers in Jakarta ends up in the bay,” he said.

As for its own waste, each island operates a landfill where waste is sorted for recycling and reuse. The remaining is burned.

The master plan for Thousand Islands district stipulates that wastewater must be treated first before being discharged into the sea.

“As part of that effort, we plan to build floating toilets, of which we have a prototype on Panggang Island, and which we hope the Jakarta administration will help fund,” Burhanuddin said.

The idea behind the floating toilets is that they can be moved away from areas that are undergoing marine conservation efforts. These areas include those that will be targeted in the district administration’s new Rp 3 billion coral rehabilitation program, which includes grafting soft and hard coral onto existing reefs to restore the marine ecosystem.

Another scheme currently in discussion is a land reclamation project to expand the usable space on inhabited islands.

“We need more land to serve as electricity substations and landfills on these islands so that we don’t encroach on existing human habitations,” Burhanuddin said.

The administration is also trying to breathe life into the district’s relatively dormant tourism industry, given the large numbers of Jakarta residents seeking a weekend getaway.

The local tourism office already offers weekend packages to Pramuka, Sepa, Tidung and Bidadari, promoting the islands’ cobalt-blue waters and rich marine life. It also has plans to set up a hospitality school on Tidung.

“Tourism will really help the locals, most of whom are fishermen,” Burhanuddin said.

A key part of this effort is the completion of Muara Angke Port in North Jakarta. Udar Pristono, head of the Jakarta Transportation Office, said Muara Angke Port would officially begin full operations by next year.

“Once it’s fully running, all boats heading to Thousand Islands will start here,” he said.

Ipih Nuryani, head of the Jakarta Maritime and Agriculture Office, said Muara Angke Port would also benefit the district’s fishermen by serving as a fish market and distribution center for their catches.