Jakarta to Start With Ambitious $34b Giant Sea Wall Project

Jakarta Globe, Eko Aditya & Hari Gunarto, Aug 10, 2014

Draft of the Master Plan for National Capital Integrated Coastal Development. 
(JG Screen Grab courtesy of the website of the Coordinating Ministry of
Economic Affairs)

Jakarta. Jakarta is expected to break ground on the sea wall project, valued at Rp 400 trillion ($33.9 billion), on the city’s coastal area, in September, in a bid to prevent flooding, a high-level regional government official said on Friday.

The National Capital Integrated Coastal Development project is a joint cooperation between the Indonesian government and the Netherlands, and its goals are to protect the capital from flooding caused by high tides. Another objective of the venture is to develop the coastal area.

The project includes reclaiming some lands to create 17 artificial islands.

Andi Baso Mappapoleonro, head of the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), said the master plan for the NCICD is expected to be finalized by the end of August and ground breaking can be expected next month.

The plan is led by Dutch consulting and engineering firm Witteveen+Bos, under guidance from the project’s executing agency, the office of Indonesia’s coordinating minister for economy.

“We ask them to speed up the road map of developments, including the financing scheme and organizational structure. That was the outcome after a meeting with the team from the Jakarta governor recently,” Andi told Investor Daily.

Under the plan, a 32-kilometer long seawall will be built, spanning from Teluk Naga in Tangerang, Banten to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta.

The project is also expected to help reduce flooding in urban areas and rivers, which have been a perennial issue for Jakarta’s population of about 10 million people.

Andi said it may take 10 years after the ground breaking for the first phase of the project to be completed.

At this stage, development will center on upgrading 30-kilometer-long ditches that Jakarta already has and creating the 17 artificial islands.

After that, the second stage of development involves working on the 32-kilometer long sea wall and the urban development facilities.

Andi said the government has yet to specify the proportion of investment from the private sector, the central government and the Jakarta municipality.

“But it all will be tendered,” he said, adding that after the master plan has been completed, the government will decide on the scheme for the tender, “whether it will be for the entire project, or per package [of smaller projects].”

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Building Jakarta’s Great Wall to Prevent Flooding