Government Will Form a Task Force to Accelerate the Construction of a Giant Sea Wall

Press Conference on Giant Sea Wall (Photo: Aris Nurjani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The government will form a task force or working group (pokja) to accelerate the construction of a giant sea wall or Giant Sea Wall along the north coast (Pantura) of Java.

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said ministers in the cabinet agreed to form a task force to accelerate the Giant Sea Wall or giant sea wall.

Prabowo said that his party supports the initiative of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy to start construction of the Giant Sea Wall and will immediately study and encourage this development on the north coast.

"The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and several other ministers agreed that we will form a task force or working group to review and speed up preparations," he said at a press conference at the Kempinski Grand Ballroom, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, January 10.

Prabowo said the construction of the giant sea embankment was very important for the people of Pantura who were threatened with drowning.

"Various Ministry agencies, BRIN, underline the very big threat, namely land subsidence due to geological conditions and also due to strong currents from the North," he explained.

Prabowo said the construction of the Giant Sea Wall would take 40 years to come, so a strong commitment from the government and political leadership was needed to continue and complete the project.

According to Prabowo, building this giant sea wall requires a large budget of around 50 billion US dollars to 60 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, the initial stage requires funds of around IDR 164 trillion.

"The success of the Giant Sea Wall may be realized in the next 25 years, 30 or even 40 years. But that is our responsibility for the generations below us," he said.

Prabowo said that the construction of the giant sea embankment would have an impact on the economy in the long term.

"Because I understand that this project cannot be completed quickly even though our people live with a quality of life that is completely inhumane. So I assigned the Defense University to carry out a pilot project, to create cheap housing in areas submerged in water," he said.

On the same occasion, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, said that the construction of the Giant Sea Wall was necessary to anticipate land subsidence which continues to occur every year.

"What we will discuss later is the entire Pantura, starting from Jakarta, Pekalongan, to Semarang. So this is the integration study that will be completed," he said.

Also present on this occasion were members of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Hadi Tjahjanto, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Chancellor of the Defense University Lt. Gen. Indonesian Military (TNI) Jonni Mahroza.

Furthermore, BRIN Researcher Dwi Sarah, Witteveen Indonesian Boss Victor Coenen, Assistance Team for the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Raden Pardede, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Susiwijono Moegiarso, Spokesperson for the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy Haryo Limanseto, Acting Governor of Banten Al Muktabar.