JAKARTA: A new master plan is on the horizon to save Indonesia’s biggest city, Jakarta from various urban woes – even after it’s displaced by Nusantara as the country’s capital – by improving coordination at central government level and with neighbouring cities.
It is part of a newly formed authority known as the Jakarta Agglomeration Area Council, with incoming vice-president Gibran Rakabuming Raka – President Joko Widodo’s son – among the names touted to head it.
The council is tasked to come up with a blueprint to solve problems such as transportation, flooding, spatial planning and environmental degradation in Jakarta and its suburbs, and coordinate its implementation with related ministries, provinces, cities and regencies.
But experts are sceptical whether its presence will be enough to solve these complex issues, saying that success will greatly depend on who will helm it.
Experts also pointed out that solving issues like crippling traffic, seasonal flooding and worsening air pollution, requires Jakarta to work together with its satellite cities and suburbs which are administratively in the neighbouring provinces of West Java and Banten.
“One of the reasons why flooding is rampant in Jakarta is because there is overdevelopment in the upstream areas in Bogor,” Mr Nirwono Joga, a city-planning expert from Jakarta’s Trisakti University, said, referring to the mountainous regency south of Jakarta.
“Tackling Jakarta’s flood problem begins by limiting the amount of villas and hotels being built in Bogor which are inhibiting the ground’s ability to absorb water. But why should (Bogor officials) help Jakarta when these villas, hotels and restaurants are a major source of revenue for the regency?
