Photo from instagram.com/tni_angkatan_laut

A bizarre 6.5-km bamboo fence that has appeared in waters off the coast of Tangerang, Banten, has made national headlines across Indonesia in the last few weeks.

It is a reminder of how private interests have long had undue influence on the country’s spatial planning and urban development policymakers. This has led to various cases of land dispossession across the country, highlighting the spatial injustice faced by poor and marginal communities.  Too often, the Indonesian state fails to act as regulator and instead serves as a facilitator for wealthy real estate companies, resulting in uneven and uncontrolled development.

Megaprojects such as Lombok’s Mandalika Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and the Rempang Eco City National Strategic Project (PSN)  are examples of how the state facilitates private interests at the expense of the general welfare of the people.

The government argues these national megaprojects can improve local economies, overcome disparities and boost economic growth. However, they can also cause land dispossession for locals, and many have been evicted and displaced.

Contentious development projects in the northern part of Greater Jakarta – including the bamboo fence – are just more examples of this chronic problem.

‘Mysterious’ barriers and ‘land plots’ in the sea

The Tangerang bamboo sea fence has sparked public controversy. For weeks, the public were left in the dark over the identity of the parties responsible. Who erected this 6 meter-high sea fence in the Java Sea? And why?

Some speculated that “land plots” (actually ocean areas) within the perimeter of fence are connected to the Tropical Coastland project, a PSN, and the Pantai Indah Kapuk 2 (PIK 2) project developed by Agung Sedayu Group, one of Indonesia’s property development giants. But for weeks it was not easy to verify these allegations.

Then, on 21 January 2025, Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister/National Land Agency (BPN) Chief Nusron Wahid revealed, to the surprise of many, that two private companies, PT Intan Agung Makmur and PT Cahaya Inti Sentosa, held right-to-build permits (HGB) for 254 of the 263 “land plots” in the waters within the fence (the rest belong to individuals).

Two days later, on 23 January 2025, the Agung Sedayu Group admitted that it was affiliated to the companies holding the controversial land permits. But it denied having erected the bamboo sea fence and stopped short of confirming whether those companies were involved in its two major projects in the area.

A geographical analysis of the location of the sea fence, however, indicates that the issuance of the HGB rights could, in fact, be related to Agung Sedayu’s PIK 2 and Tropical Coastland projects.

The map below shows that the 317 ha of the “land plots” are located in the northern shore of Kohod and Kramat villages, which are where the PIK 2 Extension  project and several zones of the Tropical Coastland project will be built. If we look closer at the map, it is hard to ignore the impression that the fence is related to these development projects.

Given the “land plots” are in fact the sea, suspicions have also risen that the HGB rights were issued by the National Land Agency to facilitate new land reclamation projects for Agung Sedayu Group, to extend the scope of the PIK 2 and Tropical Coastland projects.

If this is true, it suggests the government is kowtowing to private interests. How could the BPN issue HGB rights on the sea, where it is impossible to conduct a cadastral survey?

There is no doubt that residential projects in Tangerang deserve close public scrutiny.

Predatory gentrification is accelerating in northern Tangerang

Tangerang regency is now a hotspot for large-scale luxury residential complexes in Greater Jakarta.

The residential real estate industry in this regency tends to exclusively target the urban upper middle class. One property report noted that the Tangerang has the biggest ‘landed residential’ supply in Greater Jakarta in 2024,  amounting to 59% of total supply.

This reflects the fact that since the early 1990s, Tangerang has undergone massive socio-spatial transformation due to new town developments such as Lippo Karawaci, Gading Serpong, and BSD City. But unlike these new towns, which are located in the middle to the south of Tangerang, the PIK 2 and Tropical Coastland projects are located in the northern part of the regency.

Tangerang is attractive to developers because many have been able to purchase, develop and ‘gentrify’ areas in Tangerang even though the average land price in Tangerang, as a result of gentrification, has reached more than IDR 14 million per sqm.

This is because Indonesia has adopted so-called land market dualism, in which both formal and informal land ownership status is legally recognised. Under this system, a large number of land parcels in formerly rural areas can still be privately owned “customarily” (hak adat or girik). But unlike formally owned land, which is registered (hak milik) and expensive, these informally owned lands remain cheap.

This means private developers can develop large-scale residential projects at low cost by acquiring land at very low prices from kampung (village) people who own their land “customarily” and lack title certificates. This often results in predatory gentrification by which the poor are displaced to make way for the wealthy.

That is what is happening in the northern part of Tangerang regency, where Agung Sedayu Group acquired land at very low prices, even below the tax object sales value (NJOP). This is the estimated price of a property that is calculated based on the size of the land and built-up areas, and is usually below market rates.

Private developers have long been buying up agricultural property on the coastland of Tangerang, the most underdeveloped area in the regency. Tambak (fishponds) and agricultural land once owned by kampung residents are now owned by the developers.

In fact, according to one informant at Kampung Melayu Tangerang, kampung residents are now forced to rent their former agricultural land to developers before it is converted into built-up areas. With the gentrification process unabated, they will soon see their former fields turned into luxury residential complexes (PIK 2) and tourism sites (Tropical Coastland).

What is happening in northern Tangerang is a manifestation of extended urbanisation, by which previously rural areas have become sites for rapid capital accumulation.

Rent-seeking politics is the root of uneven urban development

This kind of accelerated urban development would not have been possible without the state’s “assistance”.

It is hard to ignore the close relationship between Sugianto Kusuma or ‘Aguan’, the founder of Agung Sedayu Group, and former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a key backer of the Prabowo Subianto administration, and how that affects the state’s policies.

The designation of Sinar Mas’ BSD City and Agung Sedayu’s Tropical Coastland as national strategic projects last year is a case in point. Many see it as a political gift to property giants who have invested in the new capital city project in East Kalimantan, Jokowi’s most ambitious infrastructure project.

The Prabowo Subianto administration must now ensure that national strategic projects, including Agung Sedayu’s Tropical Coastland, are carried out in compliance with the laws and do not negatively affect local communities.

It is worth noting that, according to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH-Jakarta), the PSN development in Tangerang’s north has already resulted in social conflicts and human rights violations. Kompas daily has also noted that the project has caused flooding in several villages. This is because the ‘vacuum preloading system’ used in the PIK 2 construction project to suck air and water from the soil has disrupted the local drainage system, which previously channeled water to nearby paddy fields and tambak.

The government must improve transparency regarding the national strategic projects. Much still remains mysterious about Tangerang’s bizarre bamboo sea fence, but many are also struggling even to find the Tropical Coastland and PIK 2 master plans.

The difficulty in locating what should be public documents prevents proper scrutiny of development projects. This is unacceptable. Indonesians badly need urban development but only if it is inclusive and fair to all involved. The state must side with the people, not the wealthy elite.

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